Annual Report 2015–2016

Improving respiratory outcomes for preterm babies
Professor Jane Pillow – University of Western Australia
PART 6 operating environment
“This research will provide a new opportunity to
protect the preterm infant from developing chronic
respiratory disease.”
Professor Jane Pillow and her team studied diaphragms
of preterm lambs to understand whether maternal and
environmental factors adversely affect the development
of the diaphragm in an unborn baby. The team discovered
that factors such as antenatal infection and high-dose
maternal steroid treatment weaken the diaphragm, likely
contributing to breathing difficulties after birth in preterm
infants. These discoveries have
opened a new area of focus in improving respiratory
outcomes for preterm infants.
The diaphragm is the major muscle involved in breathing
and a normal function of the diaphragm is essential
to survival. Professor Jane Pillow’s research strives
to understand how the diaphragm develops and how
impaired diaphragm function contributes to breathing
difficulties after birth in preterm infants.
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Annual Report of the National Health and Medical Research Council 2015–2016