Lucy Cavendish Medical Student receives the Blair Bell Research Society Best Student Prize Award

Lucy graduate medical student Nadia Capatina received the Blair Bell Research Society best student prize award at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Annual Academic Meeting.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) holds the meeting every year to showcase academic excellence in their specialty.

Led by a range of speakers, from emerging researchers to world-renowned research leaders, this year's programme included key updates and provided a forum for all undertaking research in O&G.

This year’s meeting also incorporated the Annual Blair Bell Research Society Competition. All clinicians and scientists working in the UK and Ireland in the field of O&G are invited to submit abstracts to the meeting, which are ranked by the Blair Bell Research Committee. The highest-scoring abstracts are included in the programme as oral presentations.

Nadia presented some of the data from her PhD studies on the effect of endoplasmic reticulum stress on trophoblast cell lineage differentiation and pregnancy loss. Nadia’s work suggests that environmental stressors could activate ER stress pathways leading to abnormal trophoblast differentiation and poor pregnancy outcomes. And women trying to conceive should be advised to stop smoking and keep procedures such as IVF as homeostatic as possible.

Nadia says, “I am over the moon for receiving the award. My lab work was possible as a result of funding from a Santander Universities Award, provided by the College. I just wanted to thank Lucy Cavendish College and Santander enormously for believing in my project and supporting me. The data is still not published, but it is being prepared for publication at the moment.”