Why So Soon?

Researchers are using modern experimental tools to probe the mysterious molecular pathways that lead to premature labor and birth.

Written byBob Grant

| 15 min read

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SKIP ODONNELL/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

Louisa Corinne Grant just couldn’t wait to make her grand entrance into the world. My second child and first daughter was born on January 3, 2013, at 8:21 p.m., surprising me and my wife Kerry by arriving at 35 weeks of gestation, about a month before her expected due date.

Kerry had experienced an exceedingly normal pregnancy and exhibited none of the warning signs or risk factors for premature birth. At some point during her pregnancy, however, a complicated cascade of signaling and chemical crosstalk short-circuited. Something among the gene- and protein-driven pathways designed to keep Louisa wrapped in the warmth of her mother’s womb for a full 40 weeks went haywire. And the molecular confusion caused baby Louisa to depart from in utero comfort ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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