Introduction
Susceptibility to common diseases is assumed to be “programmed” by poor nutrition early in life. Although with support in animal studies, direct evidence connecting fetal malnutrition and later health in humans has been sparse due to ethical and practical reasons. The 1959–1961 Chinese Famine with exceptionally long lasting time provides a unique opportunity to examine the effects of poor nutrition during fetal development and infancy in modifying the risk of adult-onset diseases.
Aim
The proposed project is the first large epigenomic study focusing on early life events and later life health. The project will be based on an existing collaboration network of Danish and Chinese scientists with expertise in studying complex diseases, genetic epidemiology, bioinformatics and public health.
Main Supervisor
- Professor Qihua Tan
Co-supervisors
- Professor Lene Christiansen
- Associate Professor Jan Baumbach
Funding
Grant from the Lundbeck Foundation.