Grant: Foundation Grant

There is increasing evidence that a parent's diet or exposure to environmental stressors not only affects their own health but may predispose their offspring to developmental defects, metabolic disorders, obesity, neurodevelopmental disorders or other chronic diseases. Our goal is to study the effects and interactions of environmental factors, including infertility, the use of assisted reproductive technologies and folic acid supplementation, on gene programming events in early embryos, the placenta and the fetus during gestation, along with neurodevelopmental and metabolic outcomes in the children. We expect to be able to develop science-based, more personalized rationales for recommendations for levels of folic acid supplementation for infertile and pregnant Canadians. We will develop sensitive early biomarkers for chronic disease affecting neurological and endocrine development of young children that begins in early life and has life-long consequences, allowing prevention strategies to be designed.