Learn how researchers use biobanks, such as the Improved Pregnancy Outcomes by Early Detection study, or IMPROvED to improve maternal and newborn outcomes

LOUISE KENNY: Look around you. I can guarantee that you have something in common with the person next to you, be they from Blarney or Bangladesh. We are each of us the result of a pregnancy. And at the end of that pregnancy, we need to make a 7-inch journey down the birth canal to be born. This is the shortest and yet can be the most dangerous journey of your life.

Happily, in Europe, with modern antenatal services, pregnancy and birth are usually safe. And yet 1 in 6 babies, here and everywhere else, is born either too soon, too small, or sometimes both. Four million babies are stillborn or die in the first days of life each year.

NARRATOR: Infant, located in Cork, is the first perinatal research center in Ireland dedicated to helping moms and babies. It's built on nearly a decade of research collaborations between midwives and doctors in Cork University Maternity Hospital and university researchers, as well as partnerships with research institutions of renown throughout Europe and globally. Our research relies heavily on the use of biobanks, which are collections of samples and linked health information provided by pregnant women.

Projects like the Improved Pregnancy Outcomes by Early Detection study, or IMPROvED, that use the infant biobank facilities are aimed at improving maternal and newborn outcomes. The IMPROvED biobank holds human blood, urine, and hair samples, as well as health information from women enrolled in the study at six maternity centers throughout Europe, in Cork, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany.

A biobank is like a library with human samples and information instead of books. Every appropriate safeguard is in place to protect your privacy and confidentiality, and only researchers with special approval can gain access to materials for research, protecting your privacy and confidentiality. All IMPROvED biobank information is stored in compliance with EU regulations on data protection.

To help you decide if you wish to take part in the study, your IMPROvED midwife explains what participation means for you, for your samples, and for your health information. The idea of IMPROvED is to develop a small, cheap, sensitive test that can be used in every health care setting, in maternity units from Cork to [? Chad, ?] to detect that small and vulnerable baby too sick to make the journey, who has a very real risk of death or disability as a result of exiting the womb.

KENNY: By contributing to the IMPROvED biobank, today's pregnant mothers become a vital part of a pregnancy research story, the benefits of which will make that 7-inch journey safer for their daughters, their grandchildren, and children the world over for generations to come.