STUDY
DESIGN.
Recruitment for the MOMMY Study was conducted through local obstetrics clinics, engaging families beginning in pregnancy, with longitudinal follow-up extending into the teenage years.
The first phase of recruitment has been completed, and the cohort has now entered the long-term follow-up phase. Researchers are invited to collaborate and explore findings from this deeply phenotyped, microbiome-integrated cohort.
Learn more about our study design below.
Recruitment.
The three study sites in our cohort from southern China represent westernized (Hong Kong), transitioning (Foshan), and traditional (Kunming) areas.
We have established standard operating procedures (SOPs) to recruit families, collect associated clinical metadata, biosamples and health outcomes. The families enrolled are followed prospectively from pregnancy, delivery, to postnatal stage up to year 7.
Biological Sample Collection.
From mothers: stool and urine samples are collected during the antenatal and postnatal periods. Biological samples including venous blood, cord blood, placenta, vaginal swabs, and air swabs are collected during delivery. Other maternal biological specimens, including breastmilk, oral samples, nasopharyngeal swabs, skin swabs, hair and nails, are collected during the antenatal period and after delivery.
From fathers: stool, urine, nails, hair, and oral samples are collected twice.
From newborn babies: meconium, stool, nails, hair, buccal swabs, nasopharyngeal swabs, and skin swabs are collected longitudinally at the specified intervals.
Metadata Collection.
Extensive online self-administered questionnaires and research notes are recorded by the research teams during follow-up visits.
This is to obtain metadata, including demographic data, diet habits, lifestyle, health, and psychosocial status for mothers, fathers, and babies.
Sample Collection Timepoints.
Trimester 1, 2, 3
From mother: stool, urine, swabs (vaginal, buccal, nasopharyngeal, skin), hair, nail
From father: stool, urine, swab (buccal), hair, nail
*The types of samples collected at specific time points within each period may vary.
METAGENOMIC SEQUENCING.
We utilize metagenomic sequencing to achieve high-resolution profiling of the microbiome, with taxonomic resolution down to the strain level.
This large-scale sequencing effort is made possible by our state-of-the-art automation system and in-house sequencing platform, enabling efficient and high-throughput data generation.
