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School of Medicine

Dr Jenny Myers PhD MRCOG

Photograph of Jenny Myers

Clinician Scientist/Lecturer

Clinician Scientist/Lecturer
Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre
5th Floor (Research) St Mary's Hospital
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9WL

 

Memberships of Committees and Professional Bodies

  • Royal College Obstetrcians & Gynaecologists
  • Faculty Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care
  • Blair Bell Research Society

Research

Pre-eclampsia is a common pregnancy complication which affects 3-5% of first pregnancies. It is characterised by high blood pressure and can affect the kidneys, liver and blood clotting system resulting in for significant maternal morbidity and mortality. The only current treatment is to deliver the baby, often prematurely, which can cause serious short and long term complications. Despite a number of years of focused research there are no sensitive screening tools which can predict who will be affected by pre-eclampsia and therefore efforts to design good treatment options have been limited.

Blood taken from women who develop pre-eclampsia contains important factors which affect the maternal circulation. More importantly we have found that these factors are present long before the condition can be diagnosed clinically. This means that blood taken from women early in pregnancy could be used to develop a predictive test and facilitate further research into novel treatment options for the disease. Our proteomic methods therefore combine immunodepletion techniques, high resolution separation methods and highly sensitive mass spectrometry. This work is performed by Dr Richard Blankley (Post Doc) in collaboration with the Michael Barber Centre for Mass Spectrometry and LRF Proteomics Facility at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research.

The advantage of working in a large pregnancy research group is the opportunity to work with many other scientists working on different aspects of pregnancy complications. In collaboration with Drs Ian Crocker & Nicola Robinson, we have been able to use proteomic technologies to identify proteins secreted by placentas cultured at different oxygen tensions in vitro. In the near future we will apply this technique to placentas from women with pre-eclampsia and normal pregnancies in order to identify proteins secreted by pre-eclamptic placentas into the maternal circulation.

Postgraduate opportunities
We welcome enquiries from students wishing to undertake research using proteomic and mass spectrometric techniques in the context of pregnancy complications. See the Faculty of MHS Postgraduate pages.

 

Methodological Knowledge

  • Wire myography
  • Chromatography: Immunoaffinity, size exclusion, strong cation exchange, reverse-phase (nanoflow)
  • Mass Spectrometry: ESI-LC MS (QToF™), LC-MALDI (ABI 4800)
  • Statistics
 

Biography

Jenny graduated from Nottingham University in 1997 having completed her Bachelor Medical Sciences and Medical degrees. Following completion of her pre-registration house officer posts, she undertook a senior house rotation in Obstetrics & Gynaecology in Derby and Nottingham. In 2001, she moved to Manchester to work as a Clinical Research Fellow in the new Maternal & Fetal Health Research Centre with Professor Phil Baker. Her Phd, completed in 2005, was entitled "Circulating Factors in Pre-eclampsia" and included research focusing on vascular biology and plasma proteomics. Jenny is currently a Clinical lecturer and combines clinical work as a Specialist Registrar at St Mary's Hospital with her research. She is involved in several research projects within the research centre:

  • The development of proteomic technologies to identify plasma biomarkers predictive of pre-eclampsia
  • The use of proteomic technologies to identify proteins secreted from cultured placental explants
  • Identification of urinary biomarkers in pre-eclampsia using proteomic methods
  • Clinical Lead for the MAPS project

Other roles:

  • Editor BJOG
  • Secretary/Website coordinator North West RCOG Trainees Committee

Jenny's research is funded by a University of Manchester Stepping Stones Award and Jenny has received a number of awards for her research including a Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Hypertension in Pregnancy.

Jenny received the William Blair Bell Lectureship in 2009, awarded by the RCOG for outstanding contribution to research in the field of Obstetrics.

 

Qualifications

BMedSci(Hons), BM BS, PhD, DFFP, MRCOG

 

Collaborators and affiliated staff

  • Dr Richard Blankley - Post Doctoral Research Fellow
  • Prof Tony Whetton
 

Publications

2011

  • 1. Heazell AEP, Riches J, Hopkins L, Myers JE. (2011). FBS in early labour: is there an increased risk of operative delivery and fetal morbidity? British Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 118(7), 849-855. eScholarID:127478 | DOI:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2011.02922.x

2009

  • Blankley R, Gaskell SJ, Whetton A, Dive C, Baker PN, Myers JE. (2009). A proof-of-principle study demonstrates a gel-free proteomics strategy which could be applied to the identification of predictive biomarkers for the onset of pre-eclampsia. British Journal Of Obstetrics And Gynaecology, 116, 1473-1480. eScholarID:1d33580 | DOI:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2009.02283.x
  • Blankley R, Robinson N, Crocker IP, Gaskell SJ, Whetton A, Baker PN, Myers JE. (2009). A Gel-Free Quantitative Proteomics Analysis of Factors Released From Hypoxic-Conditioned Placentae. Reproductive Sciences, 17, 247-257. eScholarID:1d33845 | DOI:10.1177/1933719109351320
  • Blankley, R., Gaskell, S., Whetton, A., Dive, C., Baker, P. & Myers, J (2009). A proof-of-principle gel-free proteomics strategy for the identification of predictive biomarkers for the onset of pre-eclampsia. BJOG, 116(11), 1473-80. eScholarID:133793 | PMID:19663911 | DOI:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2009.02283.x
  • Harris LK, Clancy O, Myers JE, Aplin JD, Baker PN. (2009). Plasma from women with pre-eclampsia inhibits trophoblast invasion. Reprod. Sci, 16(11), 1082-1090. eScholarID:1d33187 | DOI:10.1177/1933719109341842

2008

  • Gillham JC, Myers JE, Baker PN, Taggart MJ. (2008). Tumour necrosis factor-α alters NO- or EDHF-mediated vasodilatation in isolated human omental arteries. Hypertension in Pregnancy, 27, eScholarID:1d27838 | DOI:10.1080/10641950701825796
  • Jewsbury S, Crocker IP, Baker PN, Myers JE. (2008). Plasma uric acid levels in relation to endothelial-dependent relaxation in women with preeclampsia. European Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, 137, eScholarID:1d27591 | DOI:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2006.10.032

2007

  • Gillham JC, Myers JE, Baker PN, Taggart MJ. (2007). Regulation of endothelial-dependent relaxation in human systemic arteries by SKCa and IKCa channels. Reprod. Sci, 14, 43-50. eScholarID:1d27612
  • Myers JE, Hart S, Armstrong S, Mires G, Gaskell SJ, Baker PN. (2007). Evidence for multiple circulating factors in pre-eclampsia (toxaemia). Am J Obstet Gynecol, 196, p266 e1-6. eScholarID:1d14888 | DOI:10.1016/j.ajog.2006.10.875

2006

  • Myers JE, Hall C, Wareing MM, Gillham JC, Baker PN. (2006). The effect of maternal characteristics on endothelial-dependent relaxation of myometrial arteries. European Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, 124, 158-163. eScholarID:1d26649 | DOI:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2005.05.017
  • Myers JE, Heazell A, Jones RLee, Baker PN. (2006). Obstetric management of teenage pregnancy. Maternal & Fetal Medicine Review, 17 (4), 317-325.. eScholarID:1d15205
  • Nugent JL, Stanley E, Myers JE, Baker PN. (2006). Delivering twins--perceptions and expectations. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol, 125, 144-145. eScholarID:1d15097
  • Wareing MM, Myers JE, O'Hara M, Kenny L, Taggart MJ, Skillem L, Machin L, Baker PN. (2006). Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors and omental and placental small artery function in normal pregnancy and pre-eclampsia. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol, 127, 41-9. eScholarID:1d15087

2005

  • Kenny L, WB Dunn, DI Ellis, Myers JE, Baker PN. (2005). Novel biomarkers for pre-eclampsia detected using metabolomics and machine learning. Metabolomics, 1, 227-234. eScholarID:1d12574
  • Myers JE, Irvine R, Gillham JC, Macleod M, Mires G, Taggart MJ, Baker PN. (2005). Altered endothelial function in isolated human myometrial vessels induced by plasma from women with pre-eclampsia is not reproducible in isolated mouse vessels. Clinical Science, 108(5), 457-62. eScholarID:1d26647 | DOI:10.1042/CS20040343
  • Myers JE, Mires G, Macleod M, Baker PN. (2005). In preeclampsia, the circulating factors capable of altering in vitro endothelial function precede clinical disease. Hypertension, 45(2), 258-63. eScholarID:1d26645 | DOI:10.1161/01.HYP.0000153461.58298.a4
  • Wareing MM, Myers JE, O'Hara M, Baker PN. (2005). Sildenafil citrate (Viagra) enhances vasodilatation in fetal growth restriction. Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 90(5), 2550-5. eScholarID:1d26651 | DOI:10.1210/jc.2004-1831
  • Whitworth MK, Reid F, Arya R, Smith RA, Baker PN, Myers JE. (2005). A National Audit to Monitor Clinical Guidelines on the Management of Severe Pre-eclampsia and Eclampsia in Pregnancy. Clin Perform Qual Health Care, 10, 291-299. eScholarID:1d13210

2004

  • Crocker IP, Tanner OM, Myers JE, Bulmer JN, Walraven G, Baker PN. (2004). Syncytiotrophoblast degradation and the pathophysiology of the malaria-infected placenta. Placenta, 25 (4), 273-82.. eScholarID:1d9678 | DOI:10.1016/j.placenta.2003.09.010
  • Myers JE, Macleod M, Reed B, Harris N, Mires G, Baker PN. (2004). Use of proteomic patterns in plasma as a novel screening tool in pre-eclampsia. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 24, 873-874. eScholarID:1d10081
  • Myers JE, Merchant S, Macleod M, Mires GJ, Baker PN, Davidge S. (2004). MMP-2 Levels are elevated in the plasma of women who subsequently develop preeclampsia. Hypertens Pregnancy, 24(2), 103-115. eScholarID:1d10084
  • Wareing MM, Myers JE, O'Hara M, Kenny L, Warren AY, Taggart MJ, Skillern L, Machin I, Baker PN. (2004). Effects of a phosphodiesterase-5(PDE5) inhibitor on endothelium-dependent relaxation of myometrial small arteries. American Journal Of Obstetrics And Gynecology, 190, 1283-1290. eScholarID:1d25908

2003

  • Myers JE, Baker PN. (2003). Isolated microparticles, but not whole plasma, from women with preeclampsia impair endothelium- dependent relaxation in isolated myometrial arteries from healthy pregnant women. - author reply. American Journal Of Obstetrics And Gynecology, 189, p.1209. eScholarID:17d422

2002

  • Myers JE, Baker PN. (2002). Hypertensive diseases and eclampsia. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol, 14(2):., 119-25. eScholarID:1d6535
  • Wareing MM, Myers JE, O'Hara M, Kenny L, Taggart MJ, Skillern L, Machin I, Baker PN. (2002). Effects of PDE5 inhibitors on endothelium-dependent relaxation of myometrial small arteries. Cardiovascular Research, eScholarID:1d6537

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