ORIGINS has secured $500,000 in funding from the WA Cohort Studies Operational Support Program (WACS-OSP) announced and funded by the WA Government’s Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund’s Open Day in Busselton.
New funding to support research helping kids have a healthier start to life
ORIGINS has secured $500,000 in funding from the WA Cohort Studies Operational Support Program (WACS-OSP) announced and funded by the WA Government’s Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund’s Open Day in Busselton.
WACS-OSP funding enables WA cohort studies to continue contributing to the delivery of improved clinical outcomes, changes to health policy and translational health outcomes.
ORIGINS, a collaboration between The Kids Research Institute Australia and Joondalup Health Campus, goal is to understand how the early environment can influence or prevent the development of increasingly common health conditions, such as neurodevelopmental disorders, allergies, obesity, gut health, respiratory and mental health.
ORIGINS Co-Director, Dr Jackie Davis, said that the funding would support researchers in analysing samples and data from over 10,000 families, equating to almost 21,000 individuals.
“Our participants consent to sharing biological samples, health and lifestyle data, and complete online questionnaires covering everything from their family’s mental health, diet and environment,” Dr Davis said.
“We’re building one of WA’s most comprehensive family health snapshots – with over 400,000 biological samples and 24 million data points collected to date.”
Alongside growing this rich data resource, ORIGINS and its 50 nested sub-projects, are contributing to life changing interventional studies aimed at improving a broad range of health outcomes by favourably modifying the early environment.
“Our sub-project, IRON Child, recently discovered a third of one-year-old are low in iron,” Dr Davis said.
“Low iron can affect eating habits, sleep, speech and if left untreated, may also lead to neurocognitive and behavioural issues.”
“Not only has this data provided vital insights into iron deficiency for practitioners, but it’s also led to over 800 of our own participants being identified and supported with treatment plans.”
Find out more about ORIGINS and its interventional studies here.