
Francesca Gaccioli
Senior Research Associate
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Publications
Highlighted:~
- Gaccioli F, Sovio U, Gong S, Cook E, Charnock-Jones DS, Smith GCS. Increased placental sFLT1 (Soluble fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase Receptor-1) drives the antiangiogenic profile of maternal serum preceding preeclampsia but not fetal growth restriction. Hypertension 2023; 80 (2), 325-334.
- Sovio U, Clayton GL, Cook E, Gaccioli F, Charnock-Jones DS, Lawlor DA, Smith GCS. Metabolomic Identification of a Novel, Externally Validated Predictive Test for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2022 Jul 14;107(8):e3479-e3486.
- Aye ILMH, Gong S, Avellino G, Barbagallo R, Gaccioli F, Jenkins BJ, Koulman A, Murray AJ, Stephen Charnock-Jones D, Smith GCS.Placental sex-dependent spermine synthesis regulates trophoblast gene expression through acetyl-coA metabolism and histone acetylation. Commun Biol. 2022 Jun 15;5(1):586.
- Sovio U, Goulding N, McBride N, Cook E, Gaccioli F, Charnock-Jones DS, Lawlor DA, Smith GCS. A Maternal Serum Metabolite Ratio Predicts Large for Gestational Age Infants at Term: A Prospective Cohort Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2022 Mar 24;107(4):e1588-e1597.
- Gong S, Gaccioli F, Dopierala J, Sovio U, Cook E, Volders P, Martens L, Kirk PDW, Richardson S, Smith GCS, Charnock-Jones DS. The RNA landscape of the human placenta in health and disease. Nature Communications 2021; 12 (1), 2639.
- Sovio U, Gaccioli F, Cook E, Charnock-Jones DS, Smith GCS. Slowing of fetal growth and elevated maternal serum sFLT1:PlGF are associated with early term spontaneous labor. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2021 Nov;225(5):520.e1-520.e10.
- Gaccioli F*, Lager S*, de Goffau MC*, Sovio U, Dopierala J, Gong S, Cook E, Sharkey A, Moffett A, Lee WK, Delles C, Venturini C, Breuer J, Parkhill J, Peacock SJ, Charnock-Jones DS, Smith GCS. Fetal inheritance of chromosomally integrated HHV-6 predisposes to preeclampsia in the mother. Nature Microbiology 2020 Jul 1; 5(7): 901–908. *equal contribution
- Sovio U, Goulding N, McBride N, Cook E, Gaccioli F, Charnock-Jones DS, Lawlor DA, Smith GCS. A maternal serum metabolite ratio predicts term fetal growth restriction. Nature Medicine 2020;26(3):348-353.
- de Goffau MC, Lager SM, Sovio U, Gaccioli F, Cook E, Peacock SJ, Parkhill J, Charnock-Jones DS, Smith GCS. Human placenta has no microbiome but can contain potential pathogens. Nature 2019;572:329-334.
- Gaccioli F*, Sovio U*, Cook E, Hund M, Charnock-Jones DS, and Smith GCS. Screening for fetal growth restriction using ultrasound and the sFLT1:PlGF ratio in a prospective cohort study of nulliparous women. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2018;2(8):569-581. *equal contribution
- Gong S*, Sovio U*, Aye IL*, Gaccioli F*, Dopierala J, Johnson MD, Wood AM, Cook E, Jenkins BJ, Koulman A, Casero RA, Constância M, Charnock-Jones DS, and Smith GCS. Placental polyamine metabolism differs by fetal sex, fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia. JCI Insight 2018;3(13). *equal contribution
- Sovio U*, Gaccioli F*, Cook E, Hund M, Charnock-Jones DS, and Smith GC. Prediction of Preeclampsia Using the Soluble fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 1 to Placental Growth Factor Ratio: A Prospective Cohort Study of Unselected Nulliparous Women. Hypertension 2017;69(4):731-738. *equal contribution
- Cleaton MA, Dent CL, Howard M, Corish JA, Gutteridge I, Sovio U, Gaccioli F, Takahashi N, Bauer SR, Charnock-Jones DS, et al. Fetus-derived DLK1 is required for maternal metabolic adaptations to pregnancy and is associated with fetal growth restriction. Nat Genet 2016;48(12):1473-1480

Research summary
My research aims to understand how altered placental development and function contribute to pregnancy complications, such as fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia and stillbirth. My work is based on two very large cohorts of pregnant women, the Pregnancy Outcome Prediction (POP) study and the POP study 2, including approximately 9,000 patients.
Using this large biobank of samples, I undertake
multi-omics approaches to study both placental and maternal blood samples in order to characterize the possible underlying causes of placental insufficiency observed in placentally-related complications of pregnancy and to find clinically useful biomarkers for these conditions. One of the main goals of the POP studies is to identify screening tests which could inform the management of these patients
Contact
Room 109, University Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Level 2, The Rosie Hospital
Phone: +44 (0)1223 336 870