Gracie, S.Pennell, C.Ekman-Ordeberg, G.Lye, S.McManaman, J.Williams, S.Palmer, L.Kelley, M.Menon, R.Gravett, M.2014-12-232014-12-232011BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 2011; 11(71):71-1-71-121471-23931471-2393http://hdl.handle.net/2440/88471Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal mortality and perinatal morbidity. The etiology of preterm is multi-factorial and still unclear. As evidence increases for a genetic contribution to PTB, so does the need to explore genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics in its study. This review suggests research guidelines for the conduct of high throughput systems biology investigations into preterm birth with the expectation that this will facilitate the sharing of samples and data internationally through consortia, generating the power needed to study preterm birth using integrated “-omics” technologies. The issues to be addressed include: (1) integrated “-omics” approaches, (2) phenotyping, (3) sample collection, (4) data management-integrative databases, (5) international consortia and (6) translational feasibility. This manuscript is the product of discussions initiated by the “-Omics” Working Group at the Preterm Birth International Collaborative Meeting held at the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland in April 2009.en© 2011 Gracie et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedPREBIC "-Omics" Research GroupJournal article002013661910.1186/1471-2393-11-710002964791000022-s2.0-8005390512615536Palmer, L. [0000-0002-1628-3055]