Professor Claire Roberts is a NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Matthew Flinders Professor. She is Discipline Lead for Women's and Children's Health and directs research in the Pregnancy Health and Beyond Laboratory (PHaB Lab). She moved her research group to Flinders University in March 2020 after 25 years at University of Adelaide where she is an Adjunct Professor. She is an internationally recognized authority and thought leader in placenta and pregnancy research. She has a strong interest in genetic and modifiable lifestyle factors including maternal nutrition that contribute to health in pregnancy and long into the future for mother and child. She has lead research on large human pregnancy cohorts in Adelaide since 2005.

Claire's research is premised on the evidence-based concept that health in pregnancy foreshadows future health for mother and child. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the causes of pregnancy complications and to empower women and their care-givers with screening tools, information and co-designed early interventions to prevent the preventable. We cannot change our genetics but we can change our diet and lifestyle, hence our epigenetics, to reduce risks during pregnancy and into the future as women age and their children mature.

Claire has >260 refereed publications and has won ~ $30million in grant funding.

Qualifications:

BA Philosophy and Politics Flinders University

BSc (Hons) University of Adelaide

PhD University of Adelaide

Fellow of the Society for Reproductive Biology

Leadership Positions:

Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI) Researcher Education and Development Co-Lead

Discipline Lead Women's and Children's Health

Firefly Children's Foundation Board Member

Director FAMH Study (Folic Acid and Maternal Health)

Director Screening Tests for Outcomes of Pregnancy (STOP) Study

Scientific Director Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE) Study

Immediate Past Co-Convenor Healthy Development Adelaide

Past President of the International Federation of Placenta Associations

Past President of the Australian and New Zealand Placenta Research Association

Prof Roberts is Co-inventor on a patent that protects a suite of circRNA biomarkers that identify pregnancies at risk for stillbirth. Currently seeking a commercial partner.

Our current MRFF funded Folic Acid and Maternal Health (FAMH) Study is investigating the relationships between folic acid consumption and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Prof Roberts developed patented algorithms for use as screening tools to predict which women are at risk of developing a major pregnancy complication including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, small for gestational age and spontaneous preterm birth. These were developed in SCOPE and validated in STOP.

PI on a NIH NICHD Human Placenta Project funded study that profiled placenta and maternal blood across gestation using next generation sequencing technologies. 

Modifiable risk factors, including maternal diet and micronutrient status, metabolic health and other lifestyle factors, for poor health in pregnancy. 

Follow up of women and children from pregnancy cohorts (SCOPE age 10 and STOP age 3) for their cardiovascular and metabolic health and for child neurodevelopment.

Genetic factors including fetal sex that contribute to placental function and pregnancy outcomes at the population, cohort and placental transcriptome levels.