What we do
About our project
Motivation for the project
The first years of life have a profound impact on later behavioural, emotional and social development. An intriguing, modifiable risk factor for later psychopathology is the early regulation of bodily functions, such as the sleep-wake cycle, self-soothing and food ingestion. Crucially, the regulation of bodily functions goes awry in about 20% of infants leading to regulatory problems (RPs) with crying, sleeping and/or feeding. Evidence shows that RPs can have adverse effects on mental health, and therefore offer high potential for early intervention. Yet, comprehensive generalizable findings on long-term adverse effects of early RPs and its underlying mechanisms are still missing.
Aim of the project
Infant2Adult investigates the impact of early RPs on mental health from childhood to adulthood. Firstly, we analyse rich phenotypic and neuroimaging data of three population-based studies from three countries (Generation R, ALSPAC and BLS). To enable cross-timepoint and cross-dataset brain surface analysis, we develop robust vertex-wise mixed modelling, meta-analysis and federated mega-analysis tools as part of an existing open R package. Secondly, we examine neurobiological pathways of the RP-mental health association, via brain structure and function. Thirdly, we will employ the hierarchical dimensional HiTOP framework to characterise adverse outcomes of early RPs with better precision and generalisability.
Expected impact
The Infant2Adult project is ambitious, utilises existing, rich neuroscience data, and addresses a highly relevant yet scarcely investigated research topic. The project will contribute to the transformation of neuroscience research via a novel toolbox for longitudinal and cross-dataset analysis. Moreover, the HiTOP model for deriving dimensional psychiatric phenotypes will improve the search for biological correlates of mental health, through providing open access crosswalk models for the research community. Together, findings will provide novel insights and potential prevention strategies for undesirable infant-to-adult trajectories.
Visit www.Infant2Adult.com for more information.
Funds & Grants
Healthy Start-ers Fund
