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Launch of the Edinburgh Birth Cohort Study

Please join us for the formal launch event of the Edinburgh Birth Cohort study

Launch of the Edinburgh Birth Cohort study

Monday 16 November 2015, 9.45am

Monday 16 November 2015, 4.00pm

Playfair Library Hall, Edinburgh

Information about the venue from Edinburgh First

RSVP to Karen Riddell, Events & Protocol Assistant

Please join us for the formal launch event of the Edinburgh Birth Cohort study. This £1.5m initiative will be run from the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory (MRC CRH) and CCBS.

It is funded by the charity Theirworld.

The overarching aim is to study life-course effects of preterm birth in a longitudinal cohort that is well-characterised, and annotated with MRI and biosamples. In collaboration with a number of Edinburgh researchers, we plan to: (1) develop predictive models for stratifying high risk groups ready for intervention trials; (2) discover new regenerative medicines for patients with perinatal brain injury; and (3) discover early life determinants of adult neurological and psychiatric disease.

Sarah Brown, President and Trustee, will give an address, and we have superb keynote lecturers.

The programme

09.45 - 09.50 Welcome: Professor Jürgen Schwarze, Edward Clark chair of Child Life and health and Dr James Boardman, Scientific Director of Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory

09.50 - 11.30 Academic Session

Dr Mandy Drake, Reader in Paediatric Endocrinology Title: Early life events programme long-term health and disease

Dr Fiona Denison, Reader in Obstetrics Title: Advanced magnetic resonance imaging for assessing fetal well-being

Dr Ahmed Serag, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Title: Modelling brain growth in fetal and neonatal life

Dr Mark Bastin, Reader in Brain Imaging Title: Structural brain connectivity underpins function and changes over time - insights from early and later life

Dr Sue Fletcher-Watson, Chancellor’s Fellow in Developmental Psychology Title: New ways to measure learning and development in children

Dr Richard Chin, Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics Title: The value of cohort studies for understanding disease risk and outcome

11.30 - 12.00 Coffee and pastries

12.00 - 15.30 Public session - Invitees to include parents of research participants, cohort funders, and University contacts

12.00-12.05 Principal, Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea

12.05 - 12.30 Professor Neena Modi, President of Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Title: Perinatal research is critical for improving health across the life course

12.30 - 12.40 Sarah Brown, President and Trustee of Theirworld

12.40 - 1.30 Buffet Lunch and poster viewing (Playfair Library Hall).

1.30 - 3.25 Dr James Boardman, Director Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory Title: The Edinburgh Birth Cohort: a platform for knowledge discovery in perinatal science

Professor Joanna Wardlaw, Head of the Division of Neuroimaging Sciences, and Director of the Brain Research Imaging Centre Title: Neurological disease risk begins in childhood

Professor Siddharthan Chandran, Director Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences Title: What can regenerative medicine bring to perinatal brain injury?

Professor John Iredale, Regius Professor of Medical Science and Head of Edinburgh Medical School Title: Edinburgh Medical School: a world-class research environment

3.25-3.30 Closing remarks

3.30 - 4.00 Refreshments