Question: Do you think that by using computers you will be able to monitor lengths of labour accurately and your results could have a large affect on scientific research in the future?

Gemma Sharp answered on 15 Jun 2011:

Well, the idea is that a computer model of human labour will be so much like the real thing that we’ll be able to use it to predict when a woman is likely to go into labour and choose an appropriate drug to treat her with if the model suggests she might go into labour too soon.

Thing is, that will take years and years to develop, and there will have to be loads of people working on it, not just me. At the moment, I’d say there are only about 5 scientists working on computer modelling of labour in the whole world (me included!), so we may be a long way off building a computer model doctors can use in hospitals.

In the meantime, all the work I do will eventually have some effect on scientific research in the future, because if it doesn’t work future scientists will know not to try it again, and if it goes well future scientists will be able to build on the work I’ve done 🙂