Research goal

This project will provide:

• • A stronger focus on a 'healthy start' for short and long term disease prevention.
  • Deeper understanding of the common early biological pathways that lead to disease.

It will establish a major new birth cohort with detailed data and sample collection, including detailed environmental and biological profiling using cutting edge technologies such as metagenomics,  immune profiling, metabolomics, and genomics.

Through strong partnerships with the Raine Study and other existing cohorts, we will extend the knowledge frontier to explore the new and different challenges facing the generation of children today.

We will initiate a series of intervention studies aimed at improving a broad range of health outcomes by favourably modifying the early environment. An initial example is a clinical trial aimed at improving maternal gut health in pregnancy and lactation to improve early metabolic and immune health of the developing baby.

Interventions to focus on all modifiable elements of the early life environment, such as:

• • nutrition
  • physical activity
  • time spent outdoors
  • smoking and pollutants
  • microbial diversity
  • water, air and food quality

are the most logical, large scale and effective long-term strategy to improve all aspects of physical and psychological wellbeing, both in childhood and in later life.