IMproved PRegnancy Outcome by Early Detection

The overall objective of the IMPROvED project is to develop a sensitive, specific, high-throughput and economically viable early pregnancy screening test for preeclampsia. This will involve a multicentre, phase IIa clinical predictive study to assess and refine novel and innovative prototype tests based on emerging metabolomic and proteomic technologies developed by SMEs (small to medium size enterprise) within the consortium. The study will i) recruit 5000 first-time pregnant women; ii) establish a high calibre biobank, augmented by accurate clinical metadata; iii) determine whether prototype predictive assays and algorithms translate to the clinical environment; iv) assess potential synergy of a combined metabolomic and proteomic approach and v) progress regulatory approval and development of the selected test into the clinical arena.