Chercara and Timothy Thompson have watched all three of their babies struggle through intensive care.

Mother-of-three Chercara Thompson has had to watch all three of her babies battle their way through their first weeks in an incubator, drowning in wires and fighting viruses and infections.

For her the experience was like holding her breath for weeks at a time.

Thompson has undergone several miscarriages and delivered three pre-term babies over the past five years. She has watched their tiny bodies battle through surgery, surviving in a mess of wires and tubes. Her two sons and baby daughter have fought off meningitis, jaundice, apnea, gastro and respiratory viruses in their short lives.

For babies like Thompson's hope lies in new research being undertaken at the University of Auckland by pioneering professor Alistair Gunn.

​READ MORE: Born too soon - life on the margins of existence

Gunn has set the global standard of care for babies born with asphyxia and has now also turned his attention to premature babies.

Through a three-year research programme due to be completed next year, he is trying to work out how to stave off infection in prem babies.

Prematurely born babies are exposed to more infection before and after birth than full term babies and are therefore more at risk of developing neurological disabilities.

Though much of the bacteria premature babies are exposed to is mild and wouldn't bother an adult, prem babies are uniquely vulnerable in different ways.

About 8 per cent of babies born in New Zealand are premature, meaning they were born before 37 weeks gestation. One per cent of all births are born before reaching 28 weeks gestation and Gunn said these babies were at the greatest risk.

"Over half of extremely pre-term infants will grow up to have neurodevelopmental disability, ranging from very severe...to milder cognitive, emotional and learning problems," he said.

Even a mild infection at birth was consistently associated with later disability.

Gunn's research, funded for more than $1m by the Health Research Council, is focused on protecting premature babies' brains from infection and inflammation.

The researchers will know the answers when work is completed next year.

In the study, pre-term foetal sheep are exposed to bacteria for five days to see if that will impair growth of the branches that connect brain cells together, and so reduce the growth and function of the brain.

Researchers will then test whether blocking one of the key inflammatory pathways in the brain will help restore normal brain activity. This could determine the window of opportunity for treatment.

For Thompson the research would mean everything if it came up with an answer.

The Auckland woman said every single day in the intensive care unit was a struggle of celebrating milestones and "just praying like anything that you don't go backwards".

"It would mean more than words could express, these tiny babies fight so hard as it is, but when they get an infection it can mean life or death for them. Being able to prevent that would mean so much to not only myself but so many other premmie mums I know."

Thompson said for parents to know something was being done to remove a lot of the stress was huge. "You so long for the day you can finally bring your baby home that every step forward is like clutching at straws and when something does happen it's like you are knocked right off your feet regardless of how serious."

Thompson's children, now aged 3, 2 and 5 months, have come out of their ordeals happy and healthy but many prem babies struggle.

This new study could help determine how cognitive deficits develop in prems, and provide a new way of protecting normal brain development.

Gunn is also the pioneer of baby cooling which is now the global standard of care for babies born with asphyxia who may go on to develop brain injury and seizures.

He became involved in infant research after developing a personal interest as a clinician working with babies. "I was convinced we should be doing better with these babies than we were.

He will be speaking about his research at this month's Brain and Mind Symposium in Auckland.