Dr. Isabella Caniggia 
INVESTIGATOR

As a Principal Investigator at the Lunenfeld, Dr. Isabella Caniggia is a leading authority on placental development and preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is the most common complication of pregnancy, affecting seven to 10 per cent of all pregnancies, and yet there is no cure and the cause is unknown. This common disease can lead to blindness, epilepsy, deafness and cerebral palsy in newborns, and to hypertension, cardiac problems and diabetes later in life.

Dr. Caniggia and her team have made progress in identifying genetic alterations, or biomarkers, that predict whether pregnant women will have early- or late-onset preeclampsia. The earlier preeclampsia is detected, the better the chances for improved health of both mother and child.

Dr. Caniggia holds several patents on potential diagnostic tools and clinical practices. Recently, Dr. Caniggia licensed her biomarker findings to help develop a diagnostic tool that will detect and manage preeclampsia in expectant mothers over the next five years. Potentially, physicians will use a point-of-care kit to detect and measure increased levels of the biomarker endoglin in expectant mothers who are at increased risk of preeclampsia.