Ms Sylvia Lui 

Information available to pregnant women regarding alcohol consumption can be confusing. There are countless sources that claim and counter claim information available on alcohol consumption on health and well being and especially during pregnancy. The Department of Health recommends that pregnant women completely abstinence from alcohol while indicating this is not based on any scientific evidence. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists also suggests that the safest advice is to avoid alcohol but that there is no evidence of harm from low levels of consumption. This current study aims to fill this gap in scientific knowledge, allowing clear advice to be given to women based on good evidence.

Binge drinking is highly prevalent pattern in the UK where approximately 40% of adults drink more than the recommended daily alcohol intake and more than a fifth of women admitting to ‘bingeing’. An alcoholic ‘binge’ is frequently overestimated where an intake of 4-6 units (or 2-3 drinks) in a single sitting for women is acute enough to be described as a ‘binge’. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) describes a spectrum of abnormalities that often is difficult to diagnose because of the range and severity of physical, behavioural, and cognitive symptoms. It is also associated with fetal growth restriction, a serious condition associated with placental dysfunction that can lead to fetal heart failure and mortality. While high levels of alcohol intake throughout pregnancy is associated with FASD symptoms, the effects of lower levels, or sporadic bingeing is less well documented. There are studies indicating that acute toxic exposures rather than long term exposure to alcohol during pregnancy are more significant in the risk of fetal abnormalities. Our aim is to investigate the toxic effects of acute alcohol exposure on placental development and function in early pregnancy.

Using cell turnover assays, immunohistochemistry, invasion assays and nutrient transport we will be assessing the effects of various concentrations of alcohol and its major metabolite acetaldehyde on cell proliferation, cell death, cell migration and amino acid uptake. We hypothesise that alcohol exposure in short term, high concentrations (simulating binge drinking) is toxic to human trophoblasts and significantly impairs placental development

Cell culture, tissue culture, dissection, cell isolation, western blotting, PCR, immunohistochemistry, apoptosis assays, proliferation assays, ELISAs

I graduated with a BSc in anatomy and histology from the University of Sydney, Australia working on the placental development ultrastructure of a viviparous Australian lizard. After this final year, a wide range of career interests has lead back a focus to mammalian anatomy. Previously, I’ve worked in the private sector with a project focusing on reducing side effects and maximising the efficacy of two existing chemotherapeutic drugs in colon and breast tumour reduction using various cell line models. Using polymer linkage and target mediated therapy we successfully reduced the rate of tumour growth and lowered the toxic effects of the drugs in both models.

After the project completed I moved to a research group at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney investigating novel potential treatment of Diabetes Mellitus (Type I). As a Technical Officer I coordinated with different research teams and the Red Cross, adult pancreas donations for research. As part of the beta cell isolating teams we extracted viable insulin-producing islet of langerhans cells for research as well as successfully isolating cells for clinical transplantation.

After a period travelling across the continent I came to the UK and was able to continue my scientific interest in placental development joining the Maternal Fetal Health Research Group. As a Research Assistant to Dr Clare Tower I am funded by Stepping Stones Fellowship from the University of Manchester (The Role of Angiotensin and TGFB1 on Extravillous Cytotrophoblasts) and the British Medical Association (The Effects of Binge Drinking on Early Placental Development).

• Dr Clare Tower
• Prof John Aplin
• Dr Rebecca L Jones