Areas of interest

Birth asphyxia Cerebral Palsy Fetal growth restriction (FGR) Preterm birth

Research group

Fetal and Neonatal Health

Biography

Dr Crossley is a perinatal physiologist focussed on improving the fetal to neonatal transition in all infants requiring assistance at birth. Her research is particularly focussed on understanding how the respiratory and cardiovascular systems interact causing brain injury.

Dr Crossley is a leading expert in the development and use of the most advanced animal models in perinatal research. With over 18 years’ experience, she has developed a unique skill set using a multi-pronged approach investigating newborn physiology and biomedical imaging in collaboration with physiologists, clinicians and physicists. Her research utilises both the Australian and Japanese synchrotrons as well as sophisticated pre-clinical models in rabbits and sheep.

More recently,  Dr Crossley has been involved in biomedical imaging experiments that provide evidence of fundamental mechanisms regulating the transition from fetal to newborn life. Specifically, identifying interventions to improve spontaneous breathing in premature newborns. This pre-clinical evidence has led to a current clinical trial focussed on the effect of oxygenation during resuscitation on promoting spontaneous breathing in premature newborns. Her current involvement in projects focussed on improving respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes for newborns with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia and transient tachypnoea of the newborn have uncovered previously unrealised mechanisms underpinning complications at birth and identifying interventions that can be translated into future clinical trials to improve outcomes for these newborns.