Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Neural tube defects (NTDs) such as spina bifida and anencephaly, are a group of abnormalities affecting the spinal cord and brain in developing babies, often resulting in loss during pregnancy. Children who do survive suffer disability and need a lot of support from their family and the health care system. NTDs develop during the first month of pregnancy - a time when the growing baby is extremely sensitive to its environment. Because it has been shown that folate decreases the risk for NTDs, women trying to become pregnant are told to take this vitamin and it has been added to all grain products in Canada. Even with these changes, 75 babies with an NTD are reported in every 100,000 births in Canada. This suggests that there may be other causes of NTDs. It is known that the environment can affect human health through impact on our genes. For example, cells use folate from the diet to add chemical structures to DNA and these changes can turn genes on and off. The placenta is the connection between the mother and baby and controls the developing baby's environment. My research project will look at whether a problem in the placenta decreases the amount of folate that the baby gets from its mother and then changes which genes are on or off in babies that develop NTDs. I will ask three questions: 1) Is there a difference in the chemical structures added to DNA between brain tissues from normal and NTD babies? 2) Is there a difference in the chemical structures added to DNA between placenta from normal and NTD babies? 3) Do the placenta from NTD babies function in the same way as placenta from healthy babies? This research is important because it may lead to a better understanding of the causes of NTDs. This knowledge could be used to help prevent some NTD-affected pregnancies.