Future directions in preterm birth research.

The problem of preterm birth continues to pose one of the most significant research challenges that we face due to its immense scope and complexity. With evidence that 95% of cases of spontaneous preterm birth are intractable to current interventions, our best hope in resolving this problem may lie in new, innovative ideas. Novel approaches to researching preterm birth are currently underway, building upon our prior discoveries and probing into the unknown on multiple fronts. Here we discuss some of the major focuses of future investigation that provide a promising outlook for discovery, including advanced techniques to evaluate the cervix, new strategies to identify the role of the microbiome, and advances in molecular and epigenetic-based research.