Ms Hardman is the first to find that copper is delivered to the developing foetus via specific transporters in the placenta that are regulated by the mother's oestrogen and insulin levels. These findings have implications for better understanding preeclampsia, intrauterine growth retardation, the development of babies born to mothers with gestational diabetes and some genetic disorders.
"This is a very exciting finding because until now nobody understood how copper moved across the placenta from the mother to the foetus," Ms Hardman said.
"The results provide a target for further research into a range of conditions that are believed to be related to copper metabolism such as preeclampsia and intrauterine growth retardation (a condition where the foetus doesn't receive enough nutrition to grow properly).
"The study has implications for understanding genetic diseases such as Wilsons Disease - a copper toxicity disorder that affects the liver - and Menkes Disease - a copper deficiency disease that is fatal. It also provides a point of reference for looking at the development of babies born to mothers who had gestational diabetes because of the impact this illness has on maternal insulin levels."
Using placental cells grown in culture to form a layer of what the placenta is like in the body, Ms Hardman was able to follow the flow of copper across the placenta and see the effect of hormones.
"Through studying the cell model I identified two transporters involved in the regulation of copper: one transporter took copper across the placenta to the foetus and a different transporter took any excess copper back to the mother. This system would ensure that there was never too much copper in the foetus," she explained "As pregnancy progresses and the nutritional needs of the foetus increase there is also a naturally occurring increase insulin and oestrogen in the mother. I was able to emulate this in the cell model and found that with the increase in hormones there was an increase in the copper going across the placenta and a decrease in the amount coming back, again ensuring adequate levels of copper available for the foetus."