The Lives Of Thousands Of Premature Babies Could Be Saved By A New Substance Pioneered At The Rosie Maternity Hospital

Dr Colin Morley summarises the benefits of an artificial surfactant.

Scenes of tiny premature babies in incubators being tended by nurses at the Rosie Maternity Hospital, Cambridge. Reporter Greg Barnes says that many preterm babies have difficulty breathing and may die because they are lacking an oily substance in their lungs called surfactant. Doctors and scientists at the Rosie have developed an artificial surfactant. It was first developed in the 1970s and then underwent a period of trials. Now the outcome of those trials has been analysed and shows the surfactant has the potential to save lives. Dr Colin Morley, Consultant Paediatrician, summarises how it works and says the next stage is to make the Cambridge surfactant available more widely through a pharmaceutical company. This short video was made to be shown in a news story on Anglia Television early evening news / magazine programme About Anglia.

Keywords

Babies; Premature babies; Scientific research; Paediatrics; Maternity hospitals; Incubators

Additional Description

Professor Colin Morley was educated at the University of Cambridge and undertook his paediatric training in the UK. He was a Nuffield Research Fellow in Oxford where he started work on surfactant treatment for premature babies. He was appointed a University Lecturer / Consultant Paediatrician in Cambridge in 1979. In May 1998, he was appointed Professor/Director of Neonatal Medicine at The Royal Women’s Hospital and the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. Following retirement he returned to Cambridge. He has published over 300 papers of which 90 are related to neonatal resuscitation. See Cambridge Perinatal Group: https://www.cambridgeperinatalgroup.org/faculty#guest-faculty