Kelycia Leimert, PhD

Contact

Senior Scientist, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Obstetrics & Gynaecology Dept

Email: kelycia@ualberta.ca

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

medicine physiology reproductive sciences obstetrics pregnancy

About

Kelycia Leimert is currently appointed as Senior Scientist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.

Research

Our lab is dedicated to improving health outcomes for women, infants, and children impacted by a major unmet medical need- preterm birth and fetal inflammation. My work explores the ability of a highly precise therapeutic to block inflammation during pregnancy and in the newborn. We will combine this therapeutic with new diagnostic tools to assess risk and take findings from this work into a clinical setting, working to bring forward commercially viable products to provide babies with the healthiest beginnings.

Featured Publications

A novel modulator of IL-6R prevents inflammation-induced preterm birth and improves newborn outcome.

Côté F, Prairie E, Sierra EM, Quiniou C, Habelrih T, Xu W, Ferri B, Hou X, Lahaie I, Côté N, Loiselle SE, Gobeil L, Sawaya K, Faucher A, Beaulieu A, Delisle S, Simard MP, Mohammad Nezhady MA, Laplante V, Reuben A, Kalaidji SM, Bajon E, Cagnone G, Leimert KB, Gauchat JF, Gaudreau L, Robertson S, Lubell WD, Olson DM, Chemtob S.

EMBO Molecular Medicine. 2025 July; 10.1038/s44321-025-00257-9

Activation of peripheral leukocyte migration before spontaneous labor at term.

Lee H, Takamizu A, Nishizaki Y, Yanagisawa N, Nojiri S, Itakura A, Yin N, Liu Z, Wang L, Ran Y, Chen J, Leimert KB, Makino S, Takeda S, Qi H, Takeda J, Olson DM.

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2024 November; 231 (5):539.e1-539.e13 10.1016/j.ajog.2024.02.280

Pharmacodynamic characterization of rytvela, a novel allosteric anti-inflammatory therapeutic, to prevent preterm birth and improve fetal and neonatal outcomes

Habelrih F, Tremblay DE, Battista ED, Hou X, Reuben A, Ferri B, Loiselle SE, Côté F, Abram P, Lubell WD, Leimert KB, Quiniou C, Girard S, Olson DM, Chemtob S.

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2023 April; 228 (4):467.e1-467.e16 10.1016/j.ajog.2022.10.007

Inflammatory Amplification: A Central Tenet of Uterine Transition for Labor

Leimert KB, Xu W, Princ MM, Chemtob S, Olson DM.

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2021 August; 10.3389/fcimb.2021.660983

Landscape of Preterm Birth Therapeutics and a Path Forward

Brahm Seymour Coler, Oksana Shynlova, Adam Boros-Rausch, Stephen Lye, Stephen McCartney, Kelycia B. Leimert, Wendy Xu, Sylvain Chemtob, David Olson, Miranda Li, Emily Huebner, Anna Curtin, Alisa Kachikis, Leah Savitsky, Jonathan W. Paul, Roger Smith, Kristina M. Adams Waldorf

Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2021 June; 10.3390/jcm10132912

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