Shannon Bainbridge

Biography

Shannon Bainbridge is an assistant professor in the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences and an affiliate investigator 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 Maternal and Fetal Health Laboratory.

University degrees

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

• Bainbridge SA, Whiteley KJ, Qu D, Kingdom JCP, Adamson SL.  The Effects of Reduced Gcm1 Expression on Trophoblast Differentiation, Placental Angiogenesis and Pregnancy Outcome. Submitted, Feb 2011.
• Bainbridge SA, Roberts JM, von Versen-Höynck F, Koch J, Edmunds L, Hubel CA. Uric acid attenuates trophoblast invasion and integration into endothelial cell monolayers. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2009 Aug;297(2):C440-50.
• von Versen-Höynck F, Rajakumar A, Bainbridge SA, Gallaher MJ, Roberts JM, Powers RW. Human placental adenosine receptor expression is elevated in preeclampsia and hypoxia increases expression of the A2A receptor. Placenta. 2009 May;30(5):434-42.
• Bainbridge SA, Deng JS, Roberts JM. Increased xanthine oxidase in the skin of preeclamptic women. Reprod Sci. 2009 May;16(5):468-78.
• Bainbridge SA, von Versen-Höynck F, Roberts JM. Uric acid inhibits placental system A amino acid uptake. Placenta. 2009 Feb;30(2):195-200.
• Bainbridge SA, Roberts JM. Uric acid as a pathogenic factor in preeclampsia. Placenta. 2008 Mar;29 Suppl A:S67-72.
• Belkacemi L, Bainbridge SA, Dickinson MA, Smith GN, Graham CH. Glyceryl trinitrate inhibits hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced apoptosis in the syncytiotrophoblast of the human placenta: therapeutic implications for preeclampsia. Am J Pathol. 2007 Mar;170(3):909-20.
• Bainbridge SA, Smith GN. The effect of nicotine on in vitro placental perfusion pressure. Can J Physiol Pharmacol. 2006 Aug-Sep;84(8-9):953-7.
• Bainbridge SA, Belkacemi L, Dickinson M, Graham CH, Smith GN. Carbon monoxide inhibits hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced apoptosis and secondary necrosis in syncytiotrophoblast. Am J Pathol. 2006 Sep;169(3):774-83.
• Bainbridge SA, Smith GN. HO in pregnancy. Free Radic Biol Med. 2005 Apr 15;38(8):979-88.
• Bainbridge SA, Sidle EH, Smith GN. Direct placental effects of cigarette smoke protect women from pre-eclampsia: the specific roles of carbon monoxide and antioxidant systems in the placenta. Med Hypotheses. 2005;64(1):17-27.
• Bainbridge SA, Farley AE, McLaughlin BE, Graham CH, Marks GS, Nakatsu K, Brien JF, Smith GN. Carbon monoxide decreases perfusion pressure in isolated human placenta. Placenta. 2002 Sep-Oct;23(8-9):563-9.