A generation defining health initiative, led by Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), has received two federally funded grants.
Generation Victoria (GenV), a study tracking the health and wellbeing of Victorians from birth to old age, has secured a $7 million National Critical Research Infrastructure Grant from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) to develop a software platform that will be key to its success.
The MRFF has also supported MCRI's Professor Sharon Goldfeld with a $2.5 million Research Data Infrastructure Grant. This will be used to create a separate information asset, combining both federal and GenV data to focus on age groups that are often missed in healthcare prevention strategies.
GenV has more than 115,000 participants, including 46,000 babies, covering a range of geographic, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. The world-first project aims to better understand and treat the causes of modern health problems such as obesity, asthma, autism, food allergies and mental illness.
The National Critical Research Infrastructure Grant will allow MCRI researchers to create an accessible, national platform that includes gestational and long-term clinical data from GenV families. Their de-identified, secure information will be paired with satellite maps and environmental data such as air and water quality and tree canopy coverage.
GenV Scientific Director Professor Melissa Wake said the platform would be a major research asset, cut red tape and allow important longitudinal data to be leveraged in new studies.
Image: Professor Melissa Wake
"This new resource will be game-changing, allowing researchers from a range of fields to draw on key health and wellbeing information to make discoveries and plan new interventions," she said.
"We know that once-off trials generally focus on a single aim or answer and can't keep up with pressing research priorities or the pace or scale we would like."
Professor Wake said the grant would help to deliver findings that positively impact pregnant women and their children.
"This project will see GenV information used to help answer numerous health questions concurrently and begin to address high priority unmet maternal and infant health needs across Australia within the next three years," she said.
Meanwhile, the Research Data Infrastructure Grant will see large datasets combined to fill existing research gaps.
Professor Goldfeld said the project would deliver data to researchers, policymakers and communities across Australia to provide solutions that could address preventive and unmet health needs.
Image: Professor Sharon Goldfeld
"Implementing prevention strategies in the early years and early midlife offers the greatest opportunity for long, healthy lives," she said. "However, the current research evidence base for prevention strategies at these ages is limited.
"Combining state and federal data with GenV data will create Australia's largest child and parent research resource that will enable us to better solve the complex health problems facing families."
Professor Goldfeld said the project would give GenV the capability of tracking families and trialing interventions that could make a tangible difference to children and their parents.
Megan, who enrolled her young son into GenV, said she was excited that her family's information could be used to help both researchers and children in the future.
"Knowing that our child's data could better inform future services, education, health, development knowledge and opportunities for others is amazing," she said.
"After much reading and research about GenV, I was confident in our information being safe…my husband and I really valued the opportunity."
GenV is supported by The Royal Children's Hospital, The Royal Children's Hospital Foundation, University of Melbourne, Paul Ramsay Foundation and the Federal and State Government. Funding for this project has also been provided by software company Zetaris AI and other project partners.
Children born in Victoria between October 4, 2021 and October 3, 2023 can still be enrolled in GenV. Learn more on the GenV website.
