Welcome to Journey4Jessica

 
The Journey4Jessica Charity Bike Ride is approximately 1,000km from Sydney to Brisbane along the coastline visiting regional towns raising much needed funds for medical research into Pregnancy Difficulties.  The ride will be undertaken from 10th September 2011 - 23rd September 2011.    
 
Our aim is to raise awareness and funds for the ROYAL BRISBANE and WOMENS HOSPITAL.
 
  • Sadly 1 in every 4 pregnancies ends in a loss from miscarriage or stillbirth.
  • Over 2000 babies a year die in Australia.
  • 1 in every 10 babies is born prematurely, resulting in many of them struggling for life 
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    We are brought together by our love for little Jessica, who was born 10 weeks early and spent many of her early days in neo-natal intensive care and special care nursery.    Members of our team have also suffered devastating losses through full-term unexplained stillbirth and miscarriage.
     
    The following equipment list is currently urgently required by the Perinatal Research Centre to continue its cutting edge research.  It is one of our aims that all of this equipment can be funded from the Journey4Jessica event.  if you would like to donate to buy a specific piece of equipment this will be recognised at the Butterfly Ball and be announced, where possible, through our media campaign.

    fMRI Compatible EEG Cap       Price AUD $8,000 each 

    High density EEG cap for simultaneous recording of brainwaves and MRI activity in preterm and term babies - 2 Sizes required.  This equipment is essential to increase our understanding of both the normal and pathological brain.  Current projects at the Perinatal Research Centre Include modulating the intensity of, and developing the best treatments for, seizures in newborn babies.          
     
    Bio-Rad Trans-Blot Turbo Transfer System for western blotting      Price AUD $3,950 each  
     
    The Trans-Blot Turbo and Bio-Rad Gel Doc EZ System for western Blotting are sophisticated new pieces of equipment designed for the study of protein expression.  Our Researchers investigate the difference in protein expression in newborn and premature babies.  Most therapeutic treatments currently in use result from adult studies.   The equipment is vital to better understand physiological processes in newborn leading to improve treatment protocols for our very vulnerable patients.
     
    GE Marquette Dash 3000 Patient Monitor      Price AUD $10,000 each (2 Required)

    Many of the laboratory based experiments that are done require this piece of equipment.  It allows researchers to accurately monitor vital physiological signs such as heart rate, blood pressure and temperature.  We are currently in a position where we need two of these and this would allow our experiment to be done in half the time.
     
     
     Clinical EEG (EGG) System       Price AUD $44,995 each
     
    This machine is vital for investigating brain waves in newborn babies.  one of the centre's aims is to prevent or minimise Cerebral Palsy and many other extremely debilitating diseases caused by brain dysfunction.  our researchers are designing algorithms to better understand how the brain functions and this knowledge will eventually provide us with ways of predicting and preventing these devastating diseases.