Dean’s Innovation Grant recipient 2025

^{Pictured Professor Tu'uhevaha Kaitu'u-Lino}

Professor Tu'uhevaha Kaitu'u-Lino is a Dean’s Innovation Grant recipient for 2025.  Prof Kaitu'u-Lino is PI on the project 'Validating a point of care test to prevent stillbirth'  along with co-investigators Prof Stephen Tong, Dr Lucy Bartho and collaborators Prof Dayong Jin and Dr Jiayan Liao from UTS (Sydney).

About the 'Validating a point of care test to prevent stillbirth' project:

We discovered a leading biomarker for poor placental function called SPINT1. When the baby is small and at risk of stillbirth, circulating maternal SPINT1 is drastically reduced. The aim of this project is to optimise and validate a novel point-of-care test for SPINT1. This innovative stillbirth prevention test could measure SPINT1 in under 20 minutes using a simple platform, similar to a COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT). This would represent an innovative leap in monitoring placental health and could offer huge benefits to rural and remote populations, including First Nation’s communities and those living in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).