Hannah Hooker

Hannah Hooker is one of the 2025 recipients of Dr Mrytle Pridgeon's scholarship, which is awarded to two postgraduate students working in Biomedical Science. She is a PhD student in Warwick Medical School with a background in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Science.

Hannah's project is called "Precision Biomarkers of Pre-Eclampsia"

She is supervised by Dimitris Grammatopoulos and Natasha Khovanova

Project Summary

Precision Biomarkers of Pre-Eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia is a serious complication of 3-5% of pregnancies and a leading cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Consequently, accurately predicting which patients will develop pre-eclampsia is vital to improve patient outcomes. The pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia begins with a dysfunctional placenta which releases proinflammatory and antiangiogenic molecules into the maternal bloodstream, causing maternal endothelial dysfunction. Recent adoption into clinical practice of the ratio between two of these markers, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) and placental growth factor (PlGF), as blood biomarkers of pre-eclampsia, allows for exploration of additional promising biomarkers to improve the predictive performance, which is currently sub-optimal.

My project seeks to explore the potential of novel serum biomarkers for diagnosis/exclusion of pre-eclampsia, as well as assess the effect of co-morbidities, such as gestational diabetes and obesity, on current and candidate biomarkers, to further refine the use of the sFlt-1/PlGF ratio in pre-eclampsia. This will be primarily achieved using a multi-omic approach, combining metabolomic and proteomic analysis of a retrospective cohort of serum samples from women with suspected pre-eclampsia.

In parallel, the project aims to understand the mechanisms by which such biomarkers may contribute to disease pathogenesis, to increase understanding of the underlying pathophysiology. This will be done through various cellular and placental explant approaches, focussing on sFlt-1 and PlGF and providing mechanistic data to support refinement of their use.

Pathogenesis of Pre-Eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia arises from a dysfunctional placenta that releases pro-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic molecules into the maternal bloodstream. This disrupts maternal endothelial function and, in some cases, leads to foetal growth restriction (FGR). These processes contribute to common symptoms of pre-eclampsia, including hypertension, proteinuria, and maternal organ damage. The ratio of two biomarkers, sFlt-1 and PlGF, has begun to be used as an early predictor of pre-eclampsia.