Close
Project Summary
We aim to understand how interactions between microorganisms, the immune system, and clinical, social, and behavioural factors during pregnancy and early life influence later health and disease. We hypothesise that the nascent immune system interacts with the first microbiota colonisers, driving immune-mediated disease when the colonisation process is disturbed. This work includes exploring the impact of elective caesarean section, and of antibiotics given in pregnancy or labour, on the development of microbiota in the gut in early life.
Baby Biome Study is a UK birth cohort study and biobank, with longitudinal follow-up through electronic health data linkage to undertake ground-breaking research in this field.
Funded by the Wellcome Trust, Baby Biome Study recruited nearly 3,500 mother-baby pairs at birth between 2016-2017. Participants were recruited from maternity units at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, and University College London Hospitals NHS hospital trusts.
Key Project Information
Principal Investigator: Professor Nigel Field
Dates: 2014-2019
Status: Current
Partners: University of Birmingham, Wellcome Sanger Institute, University College Hospital London, University Hospitals Leicester, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
Location: UK
Funding: Wellcome Trust
Contact: nigel.field@ucl.ac.uk
- Research Team
Prof Peter Brocklehurst
Professor Nigel Field
Professor Alison Rodger
Professor Mahdad Noursadeghi
Dr Trevor Lawley
Dr Evi Tsaliki
Dr Cristina Garcia-Mauriño Alcazar
Publications
- Shao, Y., Garcia-Mauriño, C., Clare, S. et al. Primary succession of Bifidobacteria drives pathogen resistance in neonatal microbiota assembly. Nat Microbiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01804-9
- Shao, Y., Forster, S.C., Tsaliki, E. et al. Stunted microbiota and opportunistic pathogen colonization in caesarean-section birth. Nature 574, 117–121 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1560-1
- Alcazar, C.G.M., Paes, V.M., Shao, Y., Oesser, C., Miltz, A., Lawley, T.D., Brocklehurst, P., Rodger, A. and Field, N., 2022. The association between early-life gut microbiota and childhood respiratory diseases: a systematic review. The Lancet Microbe, 3(11), pp.e867-e880.
- Evdokia Tsaliki, Carolin T Turner, Cristina Venturini, Christy Kam, Angela Strang, Sarah Bailey, Alison Rodgers, Adam P Levine, Benjamin M Chain, Nandi Simpson, Eleanor M. Riley, Nigel Field, Peter Brocklehurst, Mahdad Noursadeghi bioRxiv 444216; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/444216
- Bailey SR, Townsend CL, Dent H, Mallet C, Tsaliki E, Riley EM, Noursadeghi M, Lawley TD, Rodger AJ, Brocklehurst P, Field N. A pilot study to understand feasibility and acceptability of stool and cord blood sample collection for a large-scale longitudinal birth cohort. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2017 Dec 28;17(1):439. doi: 10.1186/s12884-017-1627-7. PMID: 29282072; PMCID: PMC5745976.
- Bailey, S.R., Field, N., Townsend, C.L., Rodger, A.J. and Brocklehurst, P., 2016. Antibiotic prophylaxis for women undergoing caesarean section and infant health. BJOG, 123(6), pp.875-876.
Presentations
- Field N, Townsend CL, Rodger AJ, Lawley TD, Riley EM, Brocklehurst P. Infection and immunity from a lifecourse perspective: Life Study Enhancement. The Lancet. 2013; Volume 382 , S35.
- Brocklehurst. The microbiome in late pregnancy and mother to child transmission. BASHH Conference 2016. Oxford.
- Bailey SR, Townsend CL, Rodger AJ, Dent H, Mallet C, Tsaliki E, Laszlo H, Brocklehurst P, Field N. Acceptability of collection of multiple bio-samples to birth cohort participants: implications for large studies. UK Molecular epidemiology group Winter meeting on Metabolomics. 2014. London.
- Yan Shao, Samuel C. Forster, Evi Tsaliki, Angela Strang, Nandi Simpson, Nitin Kumar, Mark Stares, Alison Rodger, Nigel Field, Trevor D. Lawley. Stunted gut microbiota assembly and increased pathogen colonisation are associated with caesarean section: findings from the Baby Biome Study birth cohort. British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society. Edinburgh, UK 2019.
New Birth Cohort Study
Visit the Children Growing Up in Liverpool (CGULL) webpage: www.cgullstudy.com
Prof Nigel Field to co-lead new Wellcome ‘4M - Microbes, Milk, Mental Health and Me’ study - Read more on UCL News
Follow up study: RHIO
Life Study Resources
All resources from the Life Study can be found on the Life Study Resources webpage.
Resources
Media
Nature magazine article, press release and FAQs
Findings of our latest study were published in an article in Nature Microbiology magazine on 5th September 2024. The article and its accompanying press release can be viewed or downloaded below.
This builds on our previous study published in Nature magazine in 2019, which can be viewed or downloaded below, with press release and FAQs document.
We would like to thank participating families for their time and contributions to Baby Biome Study and to recognise the research midwives and other research staff for their hard work.
Resources - 2024
Picture left: Key bacterium - credit: Dave Goulding/Wellcome Sanger Institute
Resources - 2019
Public Engagement
BBC Radio 4: The Second Genome
BBC News website article on vaginal seeding
Parenting Science Gang website
