JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Research in the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) provides compelling evidence that adverse events during the first 1000 days of life from conception can impact life course health. Despite many decades of research, we are still lacking a complete understanding of the mechanisms underlying some of these associations. The Newcastle 1000 (NEW1000) Study is a comprehensive pregnancy cohort study, based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia which will provide detailed data about the first 1000 days of life to investigate the developmental origins of non-communicable disease.

Objective:

NEW1000 is a prospective population-based cohort study which will recruit pregnant women and their partners between 11-14 weeks gestation, with assessments at 20-, 28-, and 36-weeks, birth, 6-weeks and 6-months. The study will provide a longitudinal multisystem approach to phenotyping, supported by robust clinical data and collection of biological samples.

Methods:

This manuscript describes in detail the large variety of samples collected within the study, the method of collection, storage, and utility of the samples within the biobank. With a particular focus on incorporation of the samples into emerging and novel large scale “omics” platforms including genome, microbiome, epigenome, transcriptome, fragmentome, metabolome, proteome, exposome and cell free DNA and RNA. Specifically, this manuscript details the methods used to collect, process and store biological samples including maternal, paternal and fetal blood, microbiome (stool, skin, vaginal, oral), urine, saliva, hair, toenail, placenta, colostrum and breastmilk.

Results:

Recruitment for the study began in March 2021. As of July 2024, 1040 women and 684 partners (65%) have enrolled, with 922 infants born. The NEW1000 Biobank contains 24,357 plasma aliquots from EDTA tubes, 5,284 buffy coat aliquots, 4,000 plasma aliquots from lithium heparin tubes, 15,884 blood serum aliquots, 2,977 PAX RNA tubes, 26,595 urine sample aliquots, 2,280 fecal swabs, 17,687 microbiome swabs, 2,356 saliva sample aliquots, 1,195 breastmilk sample aliquots, 4,007 placental tissue aliquots, 2,680 hair samples and 2,193 nail samples.

Conclusions:

The NEW1000 Study will generate a multigenerational, deeply phenotyped cohort with a comprehensive biobank of samples relevant to a large variety of analyses including multiple ‘-omics’ platforms. Clinical Trial: N/A