The early life origins of everything
The modern environment is associated with an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Mounting evidence implicates environmental exposures, experienced early in life (including in utero), in the aetiology of many NCDs, though the cellular/molecular mechanism(s) underlying this elevated risk across the life course remain unclear. The Barwon Infant Study (BIS) is a population-derived birth cohort study (n = 1,074 infants) with antenatal recruitment, designed to facilitate a detailed mechanistic investigation of development within an epidemiological framework.