Gluckman PD
The Singapore National Precision Medicine Strategy
Precision medicine promises to transform healthcare for groups and individuals through early disease detection, refining diagnoses and tailoring treatments. Analysis of large-scale genomic-phenotypic databases is a critical enabler of precision medicine.
ReadSafety, Tolerability, and Pharmacokinetics of β-Cryptoxanthin Supplementation in Healthy Women: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial
Keywords: carotenoids; Asian women; gene expression; mood; physical activity; fecal microbiome
ReadPlasma lipidomic profiling reveals metabolic adaptations to pregnancy and signatures of cardiometabolic risk: a preconception and longitudinal cohort stud
Adaptations in lipid metabolism are essential to meet the physiological demands of pregnancy and any aberration may result in adverse outcomes for both mother and offspring. However, there is a lack of population-level studies to define the longitudinal changes of maternal circulating lipids from preconception to postpartum in relation to cardiometabolic risk factors.
ReadVariability in newborn telomere length is explained by inheritance and intrauterine environment
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate newborn TL variation in umbilical cord tissue and report a comprehensive analysis of the effects of heritable factors, socioeconomic status, antenatal maternal health, and nutrition on this variation. It is known that TL is maximal at birth and decreases progressively with advancing age, and thus is considered a marker of biological aging [26]. In our study, we found relative average TL of newborns to be longer than the length of TL observed in their mothers (average maternal age, 31 years old). Maternal TL negatively correlated with maternal age ranging from 18 to 46 years. Newborn TL was not associated with gestational age but showed positive association with parental age. Comparison of the paternal and maternal age effects in the same regression model showed paternal age to have a dominant effect. This finding suggests that offsprings of older mothers could have longer TL in the analysis simply because the offsprings’ fathers were also older. Supporting this hypothesis, we indeed found a strong correlation between the parents’ age in our cohort. Previous studies [37,38,39] have reported increase in sperm TL with age as a potential reason for offsprings of older fathers to inherit longer telomeres. As oocytes are produced prenatally, while sperm are continually produced throughout life, it is believed that there is greater potential for TL plasticity with age in sperms than in oocytes. Effect of paternal age on newborn TL is intriguing as it potentiates a scenario of intergenerational genetic plasticity in which the DNA passed on to the offspring is systematically changed based upon the reproductive age of one’s father.
ReadPopulation-based plasma lipidomics reveals developmental changes in metabolism and signatures of obesity risk: a mother-offspring cohort study
Lipids play a vital role in health and disease, but changes to their circulating levels and the link with obesity remain poorly characterized in expecting mothers and their offspring in early childhood.
ReadIntegrative multi-omics database (iMOMdb) of Asian pregnant women
Asians are underrepresented across many omics databases, thereby limiting the potential of precision medicine in nearly 60% of the global population. As such, there is a pressing need for multi-omics derived quantitative trait loci (QTLs) to fill the knowledge gap of complex traits in populations of Asian ancestry.
ReadIntegrative Multi-Omics database (iMOMdb) of Asian Pregnant Women.
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have helped identify associations between thousands of genetic variants with various diseases and traits (1). The molecular aetiologies of these phenotypes are further enhanced with molecular quantitative trait loci (QTL), linking molecular traits with phenotypes sharing genetic associations. In particular, genetic associations with gene expression and DNA methylation provide useful insight in understanding the linkage of susceptibility variants and their related genes and cell-specific regulatory elements (2).
ReadVariability in newborn telomere length is explained by inheritance and intrauterine environment
Telomere length (TL) and its attrition are important indicators of physiological stress and biological aging and hence may vary among individuals of the same age. This variation is apparent even in newborns, suggesting potential effects of parental factors and the intrauterine environment on TL of the growing fetus.
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