Research focus

摘要

There's nothing quite like turning 21. It's a universally recognised coming of age. Yet no 21-year-old can claim to have collected 1-5 million biological samples, including DNA from over 11000 children and 10000 mothers; much less used that collection to advance medical knowledge and influence government health policy.But then the Children of the 90s birth cohort study is no ordinary 21 year old. Adopting the more mature if less catchy moniker-Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)-along the way, it was first announced in The Lancet in 1989. Recruiting nearly 14 000 pregnant women from 1990-91, it has grown into one of the most in-depth birth cohort studies in the world and spawned more than 700 publications, says ALSPAC Science Director George Davey-Smith. "It's a unique project that UK science should be proud of."