Annual Academic Meeting (Incorporating the Annual Blair Bell Research Society Competition)

Joint RCOG/Blair Bell Research Society

Programme – Thursday 27 February

2nd Floor Foyer

9.30am REGISTRATION AND REFRESHMENTS

Main Hall

10.00am Welcome

Professor Andrew Horne, Professor of Gynaecology and Reproductive

Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Session I: Free communications (oral presentations)

Chairs: Professor Fiona Denison and Professor Siobhan Quenby

10.10am

Quantifying the Placental Glycocalyx with Lectin Histochemistry

Colin Down, Clinical Research Fellow Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University

Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust/ University of Bristol

10.25am

Evidence for rs805305 single nucleotide polymorphism of

dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 2 (DDAH2) to increase

the risk of developing superimposed pre-eclampsia in pregnant

patients with established hypertension and chronic kidney disease

Julia Zöllner, ST5 NIHR ACF Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St George’s

University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

10.40am

Neuroimaging reveals that in endometriosis, neuropathic pain is

associated with provoked brainstem activity in an area with no

resting connectivity

Lydia Coxon, DPhil student, Nuffield Department of Women’s and

Reproductive Health, University of Oxford

10.55am

The impact of morbid obesity and weight loss on the immune

microenvironment of the endometrium

Anie Naqvi, 5th Year Medical Student, University of Manchester/ Manchester

University Foundation Trust

Programme – Thursday 27 February

Session II: Training

Chairs: Dr Stephanie Worton and Dr Katie Morris

11.10am MRC training opportunities

Professor Moira Whyte, Head of College of Medicine and Veterinary

Medicine, University of Edinburgh

11.30am Training as a scientist

Dr David MacIntyre, Reader in Reproductive Systems Medicine, Imperial

College London

11.45am Training as a clinical academic

Dr Jenny Myers, Clinical Senior Lecturer, University of Manchester

12.00pm Panel Discussion

Session III: Workshops

12.15pm

Main Hall

Workshop A: Getting started in … clinical trials

Professor Lucy Chappell and Professor Siobhan Quenby

Room: 201

Workshop B: Getting started in … grant writing Professor Fiona Denison and Professor Krina Zondervan

Room: 204

Workshop C: Getting started in … writing guidelines

Professor Andrew Horne and Ms Eva Gonzales

Room: 205

Workshop D: Getting started in … finding research posts Dr Jenny Myers and Dr David MacIntyre

3rd Floor Foyer

1.00pm LUNCH WITH POSTER VIEWING AND JUDGING

Programme – Thursday 27 February

Main Hall

Session IV: Free communications (oral presentations)

Chairs: Dr Jenny Myers and Professor Manu Vatish

2.00pm

The effect of a six-week dietary supplement of omega-3 fatty acids

and vitamin D on in vitro human embryo development: The

PREPARE*’ double blinded randomized controlled trial

Alexandra Kermack, NIHR Clinical Lecturer, University of Southampton

2.15pm

Uterine gland secretions direct trophoblast stem cell differentiation

Isabella Smith, Medical Student, St Mary's Hospital, Manchester/University of

Manchester

2.30pm

Making BUMP work: Intervention development in a large

randomised controlled trial of blood pressure self-monitoring in

pregnancy

Hannah Wilson, Senior Research Midwife/ Coordinating Midwife for the

BUMP Trial, Department of Women and Children's Health, King's College

London/ Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences

2.45pm

Use of light-sheet fluorescence microscopy for high resolution 3D

imaging of placental volumes

Georgia Mappa, PhD Student, University of Leeds

Session V: Genomics Workshop

Chairs: Professor Krina Zondervan and Professor Peter Braude

3.00pm The genomics taskforce at RCOG

Professor Peter Braude, Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,

King's College London

3.10pm The 100,000-genome project and endometrial cancer

Dr David Church, Cancer Research UK Advanced Clinician Scientist and

Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology, Oxford University Hospitals

Foundation NHS Trust

3.30pm Genome editing

Dr Helen O’Neill, Lecturer in Reproductive and Molecular Genetics,

University College London

3.50pm Interactive panel discussion

3rd Floor Foyer

4.15pm REFRESHMENTS AND POSTER VIEWING

Programme – Thursday 27 February

Main Hall

Session VI: Trainee Driven Research and Academic Prize Giving Ceremony

Chairs: Professor Andrew Horne and Professor Lucy Chappell

4.45pm 5 years of the UK audit and research collaborative in obstetrics and

gynaecology Dr Michael Rimmer, ECAT – MRC Clinical Research Fellow, MRC Centre for

Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh; and Chair of UK Audit and

Research Collaborative in Obstetrics & Gynaecology

5.00pm RCOG prize giving

5.10pm Presentations from prize winners

Dr Caroline Ovadia

Dr Narthana Ilenkovan

Miss Chlóe Cuthbert

Miss Amanda Leow

3rd Floor Foyer

5.30pm DRINKS RECEPTION

‘Speed dating’ for mentoring and informal networking during the drinks

reception to offer an opportunity to speak with senior academics.

7.00pm CLOSE

Programme – Friday 28 February

Main Hall

8.15am Blair Bell Research Society Annual General Meeting

2nd Floor Foyer

8.45am REGISTRATION AND REFRESHMENTS

Session VII: Parallel Sessions – Pitch Your Posters

Delegates can choose one of the two sessions

Obstetrics

Room: Main Hall Gynaecology Room: 201

Chair(s) Dr Nigel Simpson

Professor Steve Charnock-Jones

Professor Emma Crosbie

Professor Dharani Hapangama

9.15am

Seasonal variations in treatment

requirements and neonatal outcomes

in gestational diabetes

Rachel Fox, Fifth Year Medical Student,

University of Cambridge

Perceptions of Menstrual Hygiene

Education in Southwest Uganda

Lucy Ryder, Medical Student, University of

Sheffield

9.20am

Characterisation of a distinct T

Regulatory cell phenotype in peri-

implantation endometrium

Elizabeth O’Donnell, ST3 Obstetrics and

Gynaecology, St Mary's Hospital/University

of Oxford

Determining the Molecular Profile of

Low Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma

(LGSOC)

Narthana Ilenkovan, NIHR Academic Clinical

Fellow and ST2 in Obstetrics and

Gynaecology, Department of Oncology and

Metabolism, University of Sheffield

9.25am

Increased activation of the placental

unfolded protein response is

associated with reduced maternal

circulating PlGF

Lucy Higgins, NIHR Academic Clinical

Lecturer, University of Manchester

Diagnosis, Management and

Prophylaxis of Chronic Lower Urinary

Tract Symptoms (LUTS) in Women: Is

there room for improvement?

Melanie Norton, Clinical Fellow,

Urogynaecology, Whittington Hospital

9.30am

The assessment of microRNA

expression in pregnancies classified as

a pregnancy of unknown location

(PUL)

Christopher Kyriacou, Clinical Research

Fellow, Tommy's National Centre for

Miscarriage Research, Imperial College

London

A mixed methods exploration of the

delays to diagnosis of endometriosis in

the United Kingdom; a triphasic study

Babu Karavadra, ST2 Obstetrics &

Gynaecology, Norfolk and Norwich

University Hospital

9.35am

Timing of antenatal steroids in

women presenting with suspected

preeclampsia and the role of PlGF in

targeting their use Paula Busuulwa, Clinical Fellow, Guy's and

St Thomas' Hospital

The Early Detection of vulval CAncer

Through vulval self-Examination

(EDuCATE) study: What women and

clinicians think Vanitha Sivalingam, NIHR Clinical Lecturer in

Gynaecological Oncology, University of

Manchester

9.40am

Placental taurine uptake promotes a

cell survival response to oxidative

stress

Nina El-Ahwany, MRes Student, Maternal

and Fetal Health Research Centre, St

Mary’s Hospital, Manchester

Programme – Friday 28 February

Session VII: Parallel Sessions – Hot Topics

Delegates can choose one of the two sessions

3rd Floor Foyer

11.00am REFRESHMENTS

Main Hall

Session VIII: Current issues in Women’s Health

Chairs: Ms Charlotte Williams and Professor Louise Kenny

11.30am The Role of Mesh in Urogynaecology: Current Issues

Dr Sohier El-Neil, Consultant In Urogynaecology and Uro-neurology, University

College London

12.00pm Where has the placental microbiome gone?

Professor Steve Charnock-Jones, Professor of Reproductive Biology, The Rosie

Hospital, University of Cambridge

3rd Floor Foyer

12.30pm LUNCH WITH POSTER VIEWING AND JUDGING

Hot topics in research 1

Main Hall

Hot topics in research II

Room: 201

Chair(s) Dr Nigel Simpson

Professor Steve Charnock-Jones Professor Emma Crosbie and Professor Dharani

Hapangama

10.00am

Developing prediction models in

maternity care

Dr John Allotey, Senior Research Fellow,

Queen Mary University of London

Thyroid dysfunction in ART and early

pregnancy: are we over treating?

Dr Rima Dhillon-Smith, Clinical Lecturer in

Early Pregnancy and Reproductive Medicine,

Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS

Foundation Trust

10.20am Discussion Discussion

10.30am

A collaborative approach to

improving antenatal care in Nepal

Dr Abi Merriel, NIHR Academic Clinical

Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology,

North Bristol NHS Trust / University of

Bristol

The long road to Mitochondrial

Replacement Therapy Dr Yuko Takeda, Research Associate,

Newcastle Fertility Centre, Newcastle upon

Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

10.50am Discussion Discussion

Programme – Friday 28 February

Main Hall

Session IX: Free communications (oral presentations)

Chairs: Dr Neil Ryan and Professor Arri Coomarasamy

1.30pm

tRNA halves: a striking new discovery in preeclampsia

William Cooke, Academic Clinical Fellow Obstetrics & Gynaecology,

University of Oxford

1.45pm

Placental expression of estrogen related receptor γ (ERRγ) is hypoxia-sensitive and is altered in pregnancies complicated by fetal

growth restriction

Zhiyong Zou, PhD Student, University of Manchester, Faculty of Biology,

Medicine and Health, St Mary’s hospital

2.00pm

Enhancing classification of endometrial hyperplasia: A strategy for

the earlier diagnosis of endometrial cancer

Peter Sanderson, Subspecialty Trainee in Gynaecological Oncology, University

of Edinburgh

2.15pm

Does the symptom of bladder pain influence the urodynamic

diagnosis?

Alka Bhide, Subspecialty Trainee in Urogynaecology, Department of

Urogynaecology, Imperial College NHS Trust

Session X: Prize lecture

Chair: Professor Lucy Chappell

2.30pm William Blair Bell Memorial Lecture

‘Global maternal multimorbidity: thrive or survive?’

Dr Mary McCauley, Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health, Liverpool School of

Tropical Medicine

3rd Floor Foyer

3.10pm REFRESHMENTS and POSTER VIEWING

Main Hall

Session XI: Keynote lecture

Chair: Dr Katy Vincent

3.40pm ‘It worked in the lab – does it work in clinical practice’?

Professor Arri Coomarasamy, Professor of Gynaecology, Birmingham Women’s

Hospital

4.20pm Presentation of Winners of Blair Bell Research Society Competition

4.30pm CLOSE: Professor Andrew Horne and Professor Lucy Chappell