Sample
Populations
Background
Our lab draws on three sources of participants: a 60+ year longitudinal birth cohort (The New England Family Study (NEFS); a cross-hospital databank of medical service recipients (the Mass General Brigham (MGB) Biobank), and the general population (community participants). These sources allow us to create novel and varied study designs to address sex differences in health and disease.
New England Family Study (NEFS)
The NEFS is a continuation of a longitudinal prenatal cohort study, the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (NCPP). The NCPP enrolled ~66,000 pregnant women at 12 sites across the US between 1959-1966, including two sites in New England (Boston and Providence). Mothers were followed throughout their pregnancies, and the offspring were followed from birth through age 7. The original NCPP was created to study prenatal and early childhood risk factors for neurologic disorders and to help reduce disease burden. Participants were chosen randomly and were highly representative of the general population. A wealth of data and specimens, including medical information, socio-economic factors, psychiatric and neuropsychological measures, physical and neurologic exams, prenatal sera, and placental samples were collected and stored at NIH.
We continue to follow the New England cohort (n=17,000). Adult offspring are now middle-aged adults, and many have participated in multiple studies. Our fetal to adulthood design allows us to study prenatal, perinatal, and childhood factors (i.e., genetic, environmental, demographic, and health-related) and their potential impacts. The multi-generational NEFS enables us to construct varied study designs (including case-control, high risk, and comparative/discordant sibling sets) to examine health and developmental processes and outcomes across the life course. The NEFS, an invaluable resource, has been used in our studies of sex differences in healthy aging, psychiatric disorders, memory decline, emotion regulation, and cardiometabolic outcomes for ~30 years.
NEFS Study Original Recruitment flyer
Community Participants
Our community-based studies recruit adults from the general population. We recruit, screen, and enroll participants in line with specific protocol criteria. We advertise participation opportunities via MGB/hospital recruitment platforms, public online sites and social media, and on-foot community bulletin boards. We conduct clinical trials and pilot work to develop novel therapies that incorporate our knowledge of sex differences.
MGB BioBank: Healthy Aging Translational Cohort (HATCH)
The MassGeneral Brigham Biobank is a resource to affiliated clinicians and researchers who study the impact of genes, lifestyle, and other factors on health and risk for disease. The MGB Biobank registers primary and specialty care patients who have consented to participate in Biobank collaborated research. Upon enrollment, participants provide a blood sample for banking DNA and other bio samples. As a resource to researchers, the Biobank includes state of the art language regarding genetics, integration of electronic medical records with research data, and re-contacting participants. To date, the Biobank has included over 150,000 people and enrollment continues. From the Biobank, we are currently recruiting subjects to establish a new adult cohort, known as the Healthy Aging Translational Cohort (HATCH), to study risk and protective factors regarding sex differences in health and disease with aging. We will continue to follow these participants as they age into elderhood.
