BackgroundThe uptake of findings from sexual and reproductive health and rights research into policy-making remains a complex and non-linear process. Different models of research utilisation and guidelines to maximise this in policy-making exist, however, challenges still remain for researchers to improve uptake of their research findings and for policy-makers to use research evidence in their work.MethodsA participatory workshop with researchers was organised in November 2017 by the Academic Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Policy (ANSER) to address this gap. ANSER is a consortium of experienced researchers, some of whom have policy-making experience, working on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues across 16 countries and 5 continents. The experiential learning cycle was used to guide the workshop discussions based on case studies and to encourage participants to focus on key lessons learned. Workshop findings were thematically analysed using specific stages from Hanney et al.’s (Health Res Policy Syst 1:2, 2003) framework on the place of policy-making in the stages of assessment of research utilisation and outcomes.ResultsThe workshop identified key strategies for translating research into policy, including joint agenda-setting between researchers and policy-makers, as well as building trust and partnerships with different stakeholders. These were linked to stages within Hanney et al.’s framework as opportunities for engaging with policy-makers to ensure uptake of research findings.ConclusionThe engagement of stakeholders during the research development and implementation phases, especially at strategic moments, has a positive impact on uptake of research findings. The strategies and stages described in this paper can be applied to improve utilisation of research findings into policy development and implementation globally.

Preeclampsia is classically defined by the presence of hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestation and, thus, affects multiple body systems. The etiology of the disease remains poorly understood but it is known that the expression profile of placental genes is modified, including that of several matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). The objective of this study was to perform a systematic expression analysis of MMP9 genes in normal and pathological placentas, and to pinpoint epigenetic alterations inside the MMP9 promoter region. Placentas were obtained from 20 patients with preeclampsia and 18 normal pregnancies in the third trimester. The methylation status of the promoter regions of MMP9 was analyzed with methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes, followed by polymerase chain reaction amplification. Our study found significantly higher expression levels of MMP9 in placental sections from preeclampsia tissue and this increased expression was well correlated to promoter demethylation. The percentage of unmethylated -712 sites were higher in preeclampsia patients (90%) compared with controls (44%). In conclusion, this study provides evidence that altered synthesis of MMP9 in preeclampsia placentas may result from epigenetic changes of the methylation status of CpG sites in the promoter region.

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