Professor Kirsty Pringle

Professor Kirsty Pringle
Equipment Grant
2017 Equipment Grant
Project Grant
2015 Project Grant
Project Grant
2013 Project Grant
Project Grant
2012 Project Grant
Project Grant
2011 Project Grant
Project Grant
2009 Project Grant

What are your research interests?

  • Understanding the development of the placenta during pregnancy and what goes wrong in pregnancies complicated by placental insufficiency, such as in women with preeclampsia
  • Improving pregnancy outcomes in Indigenous Australian women to stop the development of chronic diseases in adulthood such as kidney disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes
  • Uncovering the mechanisms underlying preterm birth and why boy babies are more likely to be born preterm
  • Can we use drugs that are commonly used to treat hypertension to treat the progression and recurrence of endometrial cancer?

Why did you get into research?

I love learning, and doing research means that I get to learn new things everyday, which keeps me on my toes. I am passionate about improving maternal and infant health - so having healthier pregnancies is certainly a good place to start! As a mother it is scary to think that what you do, or have done in the past, impacts your children so greatly but early-life exposure to poor nutrition or stress (even when in the womb) really can have lifelong effects. 

What would be the ultimate goal for your research?

The ultimate goal for my research is to improve pregnancy outcomes to improve maternal and infant health. This could be in the form of a new screening tool to detect women at risk of developing a pregnancy complication such as preeclampsia or it could be the development of a new drug to prevent preterm birth. At the moment I am simply trying to understand why some women are more at risk of pregnancy complications than others and identify ways that we can intervene.

Future Focus

My long-term career vision is to:

  • Increase our understanding of the functions of the renin angiotensin systems in pregnancy 
  • Identify novel early biomarkers for pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and preterm birth, and
  • Develop strategies to improve perinatal outcomes and stop the cycle of chronic disease that is particularly prevalent in Indigenous populations world wide.

Biography

Professor Kirsty Pringle is a Research Fellow leading the pregnancy and women's research group with the Mothers and Babies Research Centre. Her research looks at the role of the intrauterine (within the uterus), circulating and intrarenal (within the kidney) renin angiotensin systems in pregnancy and how they might be related to complications in pregnancy. 

Since achieving a PhD in Obstetrics and Gynacaeology from the University of Adelaide in 2008, Professor Pringle has researched the effect of various pregnancy compromises on the healthy development of the placenta. She is now a recognised expert in the field. Her current research looks at how the renin angiotensin system may contribute to chronic kidney disease in Indigenous Australians and how this may also contribute to pregnancy outcomes such as preeclampsia and producing a small-for-gestational-age baby.

Professor Pringle is also investigating how drugs that block components of the renin angiotensin system may be used to treat endometrial cancer and also how they may be able to improve cardiovascular outcomes in babies born prematurely. In addition, she examines how genetic factors that regulate the renin angiotensin system, known as micro-RNAs (miRNA), may affect pregnancy and the development of the placenta.  

Professor Pringle is a renowned researcher in the field of reproductive biology and has recently been recognised as the HMRI Pulse Early Career Travel Award recipient (2012) and the Society for Reproductive Biology Early Career Collaborative Travel Award recipient (2013). She is also the current Secretary for the Society for Reproductive Biology and the Chair of the Gordon Research Symposium in Angiotensins in 2016, highlighting her strong contribution and high standing within the research community both nationally and internationally.

Professor Pringle supervises PhD candidates and Honours students from the University of Newcastle and is also a regular contributor to undergraduate lecturing duties on the Developmental Origins of Adult Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis and reproductive biology. 

    Specialised/Technical Skills

    • Tissue/cell culture
    • Placental explants
    • PCR
    • Cell culture
    • Immunohistochemistry
    • Western Blotting
    • miRNA Arrays
       

    Affiliations

    Secretary for the Society for Reproductive Biology

    Chair of the Gordon Research Symposium 2016.

    Priority Research Centre (PRC) for Pregnancy and Reproduction 

     

    2017

    Bioline Platform Rocker, Pipettes and PC
    Equipment Grant
    Researchers:
    Description:

    Equipment for use in the lab

    more

    2015

    Equal Futures Award
    Project Grant
    Researchers:
    Description:

    Kirsty will use The Equal Futures funding to attend the 2016 National Higher Education Women Leadership Summit in Melbourne 2016. 

    more

    2013

    Does a novel biomarker of renal function in pregnant Indigenous Australian women predict their future renal and cardiovascular health?
    Project Grant
    Description:

    Predicting future renal and cardiovascular health in pregnant Indigenous Australian women

    more

    2012

    Early Career PULSE Travel Award 2012
    Project Grant
    Researchers:

    2011

    The role of the intrarenal renin angiotensin system in preeclampsia and gestational hypertension - HMRI Project Grant
    Project Grant
    Researchers:

    2009

    The role of Prorenin in the First Trimester Placenta: Key to Pregnancy Success
    Project Grant
    Researchers: