About Us

Study Overview

The Barwon Infant Study (BIS) is a longitudinal birth cohort study. This means that BIS researchers are actively following our participants over time as they grow and develop – from pregnancy into infancy, childhood and now adolescence. BIS is designed to collect information at key time points that are critical to understanding child development, starting from pregnancy and including assessments at birth, one year, four years, and beyond.

By following our participants as they grow, rather than retrospectively (looking back), BIS researchers can gain a more precise understanding of the connections between early-life exposures and subsequent health and disease outcomes.

BIS is one of the largest, longitudinal, population-based cohort studies in Australia.

Led by Professor Peter Vuillermin and Professor Anne-Louise Ponsonby, BIS is a collaborative, multidisciplinary research project based at the Child Health Research Unit in partnership with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Deakin University.

Our research explores how early life influences the health and development of children and their families. By following over 1,000 families from the Barwon region, we’re building one of the world’s most detailed pictures of childhood development.

The BIS team is focused on uncovering the biological, environmental and social factors that contribute to child health outcomes. Through this work, we aim to inform strategies for the prevention and management of diseases across the life course.

Focus Areas

The Barwon Infant Study focuses on how early life shapes lifelong health, with research spanning immune development, allergies and asthma, respiratory health, cardiovascular health, neurodevelopment, and the gut microbiome. These areas are central to understanding how childhood exposures influence lifelong wellbeing.

Immune

We’re investigating how immune systems develop in early life, including how microbial exposure and environmental factors shape immune resilience and susceptibility to disease.

Allergies and Asthma

BIS has uncovered early-life factors that contribute to allergy and asthma risk, including vitamin D levels, microbial diversity, and immune system activation.

Respiratory

We study how lung function develops from infancy, using specialised lung tests to understand how prenatal and early exposures relate to breathing conditions like asthma.

Cardiovascular

By measuring heart and blood vessel health in infancy and childhood, BIS explores the early signs of cardiovascular disease and what factors may influence lifelong heart health.

Neurodevelopment

We assess how early-life environmental exposures, including nutrition and chemical pollutants, affect brain development, attention, memory, and behavioural outcomes.

Microbiome

Our research examines the role of gut bacteria in shaping health, including links to immune function, allergies, mental wellbeing, and even behaviour in childhood.

BIS Cohort Profile

Our Cohort Profile Paper outlines the design, methods, and early insights of the Barwon Infant Study. Click the link below to view and download the paper.

Download Cohort Profile Paper

The Beginning

The planning for BIS started in 2008. The idea was to conduct a study that would generate new knowledge on how to give kids the best start to life; and so BIS was born!

We concluded the three-year recruitment phase in June 2013, and the last of the babies was born in December 2013, giving us the final cohort of 1074 infants.

Progress So Far

Variables

Bio samples per
mother-infant dyad

Timeline

Explore the BIS Timeline

BIS LifeCourse

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the BIS participants for their generous contribution to this project. The authors also thank current and past staff for their efforts in recruiting and maintaining the cohort and obtaining and processing the data and biospecimens.

Funding

The establishment of work and infrastructure for the BIS was supported by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Deakin University, and Barwon Health. Funding was subsequently secured from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC), the Shepherd Foundation, the Jack Brockhoff Foundation, the Scobie & Claire McKinnon Trust, the Shane O’Brien Memorial Asthma Foundation, the Our Women Our Children’s Fund Raising Committee Barwon Health, the Rotary Club of Geelong, the Minderoo Foundation, the Ilhan Food Allergy Foundation, GMHBA Limited, Vanguard Investments Australia Ltd, the Percy Baxter Charitable Trust, Perpetual Trustees, and the William and Vera Ellen Houston Memorial Trust Fund. Additional in-kind support was provided by the Cotton On Foundation and CreativeForce. The project also received support from the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program.

Grants

The Barwon Infant Study has been supported by over 10 separate National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants since its inception. This includes three major project grants specifically awarded to support the BIS Primary School Review, enabling our in-depth research into immune, respiratory, neurodevelopmental, and cardiovascular health.

These competitive grants reflect the significance and scientific excellence of the BIS research program.