News

​​​NICHD issues News Releases and Media Advisories to the news media. Spotlight and Research Feature articles explain NICHD research findings and public health issues to the general public. An Item of Interest is a short announcement of relevant information, such as a notable staff change.

Release: NIH announces prize winners in year-long challenge to develop fetal diagnostic and monitoring technologies

Radx Tech Fetal Monitoring Challenge' and NIH logo 'National Institutes of Health, Turning Disocvery Into Health' appear on the right. On the left, there’s a pregnant person with a series of decorative icons, such as a blood drop, heart, and test tube.
NIH has announced winners of its competition to accelerate the development of diagnostic and monitoring technologies to improve fetal health outcomes.

Spotlight: Scientific Advances from the Division of Intramural Research

Tiny pink dots clustered against a blue background. A fish fin is visible in the lower right corner.
The Division of Intramural Research provides fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems through basic, clinical, and population-based research.

Spotlight: Scientific Advances from the Division of Intramural Research

A transparent cell is visible against a blue background. Inside the cell are organelles, including the nucleus in the center, folded membranes like the Golgi bodies, and mitochondria.
The Division of Intramural Research provides fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems through basic, clinical, and population-based research.

Item of Interest: NIH funds two additional Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence

Silhouettes of four pregnant people.
NIH awarded two new grants to expand its Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence. These institutions design and implement research projects seeking to reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths and promote maternal health equity in the United States.

Science Update: Exposure to tobacco smoke from fetal development through adolescence may increase high blood pressure, diabetes risk in midlife, NIH-funded study suggests

A crushed cigarette butt in an ashtray.
Individuals born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy and when they were children may be at an increased risk for high blood pressure and diabetes.

Spotlight: Scientific Advances from the Division of Intramural Research

Three-dimensional graphic shows the inset mitochondria in the top left; the organelle is bean-shaped with folds inside. The MRS2 channel is shown as a cross-section embedded in a lipid bilayer. The intermembrane space of the mitochondria is shaded blue, and the mitochondrial matrix is shaded purple. Magnesium ions are small green spheres.
The Division of Intramural Research provides fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems through basic, clinical, and population-based research.

Item of Interest: NIH awards interim prizes in fetal diagnostic and monitoring technology competition

'Radx Tech Fetal Monitoring Challenge' and NIH logo 'National Institutes of Health, Turning Disocvery Into Health' appear on the right. On the left, there’s a pregnant person with a series of decorative icons, such as a blood drop, heart, and test tube.
NIH has announced finalists in its competition to accelerate the development of diagnostic and monitoring technologies to improve fetal health outcomes.

Spotlight: Looking Back on NICHD in 2023

A pregnant woman sits up on a hospital bed and is speaking with a health care provider.
As we ring in 2024, we’d like to take a brief look back on our accomplishments during 2023. These activities illustrate the institute’s continued commitment to research and training in its mission areas.

Item of Interest: NICHD and CDC Partner on Healthy Native Babies Project

Swaddled baby within a Native American Medicine Wheel.
This collaboration will promote safe infant sleep with and within American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

Release: NIH launches $2 million prize competition to spur innovation in fetal diagnostic and monitoring technologies

'Radx Tech Fetal Monitoring Challenge' and NIH logo 'National Institutes of Health, Turning Disocvery Into Health' appear on the right. On the left, there’s a pregnant person with a series of decorative icons, such as a blood drop, heart, and test tube.
NIH will award up to $2 million in cash prizes as part of its Fetal Monitoring Challenge to accelerate development of diagnostic and monitoring technologies that improve fetal health outcomes in low-resource settings. U.S. scientists, engineers, and clinicians can submit innovative approaches and compete for prizes and resources to support technology development and clinical impact, with a focus on point-of-care and home-based diagnostic and monitoring technologies that may reduce fetal health risk and loss during and after birth.

Spotlight: Scientific Advances from the Division of Intramural Research

The astrocytes have multiple extensions that add layers around axons, which are shown as long tubular structures.
The Division of Intramural Research provides fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems through basic, clinical, and population-based research.

Release: NIH establishes Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence

IMPROVE. Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone. An illustration of three pregnant people. Logo of the National Institutes of Health. Turning Discovery Into Health.
NIH has awarded $24 million in first-year funding to establish Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence. The centers will develop and evaluate innovative approaches to reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths and promote maternal health equity.

Item of Interest: New policies needed for maternal health care among incarcerated people with COVID-19, according to NICHD-funded researchers

Pregnant person receiving an injection in the arm from a health care provider. Both are masked.
The health of pregnant individuals and new mothers in the nation’s prisons should be prioritized to avoid future public health crises from COVID-19, according to an analysis by NICHD-funded investigators. Recommended policy changes include early release, when possible, because pregnant people are at high risk from COVID-19, and prisons are not well-equipped to provide the necessary medical care. Moreover, prisons should promote COVID-19 vaccination and develop targeted messages for this population to counteract vaccine misinformation.

Item of Interest: NICHD announces awards for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network

Director's Corner: Addressing Inequities to IMPROVE Maternal Health for All

A smiling Black woman wearing a hospital gown opens her arms to hold a newborn wrapped in a blue and white blanket. A healthcare worker wearing green scrubs is handing her the baby.
Black people are about three times as likely as White people to die from a pregnancy-related cause, regardless of income or education level. The NIH-wide IMPROVE initiative works to reduce preventable pregnancy-related deaths and complications and promote health equity.

Spotlight: Scientific Advances from the Division of Intramural Research

A female scientist wearing purple gloves scores a bacterial culture plate. The plate is round, coated with clear agar, and the bacterial colonies are blue dots.
The Division of Intramural Research provides fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems through basic, clinical, and population-based research.

Science Update: Postpartum depression, reduced breastfeeding may help account for developmental delays seen in children born to women with depression during pregnancy

Pregnant person talking to medical professional holding a notebook.
Researchers know that children born to mothers who have depression in pregnancy are at risk for developmental delays but haven’t known why. Now, a National Institutes of Health study suggests that depression persisting after pregnancy and reduced breastfeeding may account for at least part of the increased risk. Based on their results, researchers conclude that physicians may be able to reduce this risk by offering treatment for depression both during and after pregnancy and by counseling new mothers on how to breastfeed successfully.

Spotlight: Scientific Advances from the Division of Intramural Research

Black and white microscopy image showing the juncture between two nerve cells.
The Division of Intramural Research provides fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems through basic, clinical, and population-based research.

Media Advisory: NIH-funded researchers develop same-day test to detect abnormal fetal chromosomes

Artistic rendering of X-shaped chromosomes, which are blue. The center chromosome is colored differently, with a yellow center that changes to pink, purple, and blue as it moves toward the chromosome ends.
Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed a same-day test to identify abnormal fetal chromosomes.

Science Update: Placental inflammation could explain link between air pollution and pregnancy complications, NIH-funded study in mice suggests

City skyline viewed through a haze of air pollution.
The increase in pregnancy complications linked to air pollution exposure could result from the pollutants’ direct effects on the placenta, suggests a study in mice funded by the National Institutes of Health. Placentas of mice exposed to a mixture of common urban air pollutants before and during pregnancy were inflamed and had a loss of blood vessel cells. The study authors say the findings could provide insight into how air pollution might affect pregnancies and lead to strategies for preventing pregnancy complications.
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