Dr. Shannon Bainbridge

Biography

Shannon Bainbridge is an assistant professor in the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, with cross appointment to the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and affiliate investigator status at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI). She obtained her Ph.D. from Queen’s University (Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology) with a dissertation that focused on the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy. Professor Bainbridge went on to complete two post-doctoral fellowships, the first at Magee-Womens Research Institute (Pittsburgh, PA) and the second at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto, ON). In both fellowships her research examined how different biological and genetic influences affect early placental development in the context of both healthy and pathological pregnancies.  

Professor Bainbridge’s current research program addresses two common and debilitating complications of pregnancy, preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction. The aims of her research program are to: 1) understand the molecular basis of these complications within the placenta; 2) identify molecular subclasses of these complications; 3) identify unique biomarkers that can be used to screen and identify these different subclasses of disease; 4) identify molecular candidates within the placenta that can be targeted for tailored therapeutic treatment of the different subclasses of disease. Methodology used within her laboratory includes gene and protein analysis, in vitro cell/tissue culture and in vivo models.

Learn more about Professor Bainbridge and the Placenta Lab.
 

Research interests

• Early placental development
• Feto-placental angiogenesis in healthy and pathological pregnancies
• Identification of molecular subclasses of preeclampsia (a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy)
• Identification of molecular subclasses of intrauterine fetal growth restriction
• Identification of specific biomarkers for complications of pregnancy

Selected publications

Chapters in books:

• Qu D, McDonald A, Whiteley KJ, Bainbridge SA, and Adamson SL (Editors: BA Croy, AT Yamada, F DeMayo, and SL Adamson). Chapter III-9: Layer-Enriched Tissue Dissection of the Mouse Placenta in Late Gestation. In: The Guide for the Investigation of Mouse Pregnancy Part III: Protocols for Studies of the Placenta and Pregnancy in Mice, (Academic Press/Elsevier, Jan 2014) pp 528-537.

Papers in Refereed Journals:

• Leavey K, Benton SJ, Grynspan D, Bainbridge SA, Morgen EK, Cox BJ. Gene markers of normal villous maturation and their expression in placentas with maturational pathology. Placenta. 2017 Oct;58:52-59.
• Dubé C, Aguer C, Adamo K, Bainbridge S. A role for maternally derived myokines to optimize placental function and fetal growth across gestation. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2017 May;42(5):459-469.
• Benton SJ, Ly C, Vukovic S, Bainbridge SA. Andrée Gruslin award lecture: Metabolomics as an important modality to better understand preeclampsia. Placenta. 2016 Nov 16. pii: S0143-4004(16)30626-9.
• Leavey K., Benton S., Grynspan D., Kingdom J., Bainbridge SAϯ., Cox Bϯ. Unsupervised Placental Gene Expression Profiling Identifies Clinically Relevant Subclasses of Human Preeclampsia. Hypertension, 2016 Jul;68(1):137-47.
• Ahmed T, Fellus I, Gaudet J, MacFarlane AJ, Fontaine-Bisson B,Bainbridge SA. Effect of folic acid on human trophoblast health and function in vitro. Placenta. 2016 Jan;37:7-15.
• Andraweera PH., Bobek G., Bowen C., Burton G.J., Correa Frigerio P., Chaparro A., Dickinson H., Duncombe G., Hyett J., Illanes SE., Johnstone E., Kumar S., Morgan T.K., Myers J., Orefice R., Roberts CT., Salafia CM., Thornburg K.L., Whitehead CL., Bainbridge SA. IFPA Meeting 2015 Workshop Report: Late Onset IUGR Surveillance and Monitoring; Biomarkers of Placental Function and Complications of Pregnancy; Mechanistic Role of the Placenta in Fetal Programming. Placenta. 2015 Dec 20. pii: S0143-4004(15)30108-9.
• Masoudian P., Nasr A., DeNanassy J., Fung Kee Fung K., Bainbridge SA., El Demellawy D. Oocyte Donation Pregnancies and the Risk of Preeclampsia or Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension: A Meta-Analysis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2015 Nov 25. pii: S0002-9378(15)02349-2.
• Leavey K.,Bainbridge SAϯ., Cox Bϯ. Large scale aggregate microarray analysis reveals three distinct molecular classes of human preeclampsia. PLoS One. 2015 Feb 13;10(2):e0116508.
• Abumaree MH, Alahari S, Albrecht C, Aye IL, Bainbridge S, Chauvin S, Clifton VL, Desoye G, Ermini L, Giuffrida D, Graham CH, Huang QT, Kalionis B, Lager S, Leach L, Li Y, Litvack ML, Nuzzo AM, Moretto-Zita M, O'Tierney-Ginn P, Powell T, Rolfo A, Salomon C, Serov A, Westwood M, Yung HW, Lash GE. IFPA Meeting 2013 Workshop Report I: diabetes in pregnancy, maternal dyslipidemia in pregnancy, oxygen in placental development, stem cells and pregnancy pathology. Placenta. 2014; 35 Suppl:S4-9.
• Kulandavelu S, Whiteley KJ, Bainbridge SA, Qu D, Adamson SL. Endothelial NO synthase augments fetoplacental blood flow, placental vascularization, and fetal growth in mice. Hypertension. 2013 Jan;61(1):259-66.
• Qiu Q, Bell M, Lu X, Yan X, Rodger M, Walker M, Wen SW, Bainbridge S, Wang H, Gruslin A. Significance of IGFBP-4 in the development of fetal growth restriction. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Aug;97(8):E1429-39.
• Kulandavelu S, Whiteley KJ, Qu D, Mu J, Bainbridge SA, Adamson SL. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase deficiency reduces uterine blood flow, spiral artery elongation, and placental oxygenation in pregnant mice. Hypertension. 2012 Jul;60(1):231-8.
• Bainbridge SA, Minhas A, Whiteley KJ, Qu D, Sled JG, Kingdom JC, Adamson SL. Effects of reduced Gcm1 expression on trophoblast morphology, fetoplacental vascularity, and pregnancy outcomes in mice. Hypertension. 2012 Mar;59(3):732-9.

Complete List of Published Work in MyBibliography:

NCBI Collections

Active research funding

• Improving Placental Function: Developing Screening Tools and Targeted Therapies for Preeclampsia. Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and Science - Early Researcher Award, 2017-2022. Role: Principal Investigator.
• PARP-dependent NAD+ depletion as a cause of placental dysfunction in preeclampsia. CIHR, 2017-2022. Role: Principal Investigator (Co-PI: K. Menzies)
• Does maternal physical activity affect placenta biology? A multi-tiered approach. CIHR, 2015-2020. Role: Co-investigator (PI: K. Adamo)
• A novel histopathology diagnostic antibody panel capable of identifying distinct subclasses of placental disease in preeclampsia. Physicians Services Incorporated, 2015-2017. Role: Principal Investigator (Co-PI: D. Grynspan)
• Role of FGL2 in placental development and preeclampsia. Preeclampsia Foundation, 2015-2017. Role: Principal investigator
• DREAM: Determining Risk Elevation After Maternity. The Ottawa Hospital Academic Medical Organization (TOHAMO) Innovation Fund, 2015-2017. Role: Co-investigator (PI: L. Gaudet)
• Identification of Molecular Subtypes of Preeclampsia. CIHR, 2013-2018. Role: Principal Investigator (Co-PI: B. Cox)