PIPKIN Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Perinatal Imaging in Partnership with Families (PIPKIN) Study (Version 1.0)
IRAS ID
295027
Contact name
Mark Johnson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
Birth triggers rapid changes in brain structure and cortical function over the first few days and weeks of an infant’s life. By six months, brain development atypicalities that precede developmental disorders such as autism can first emerge, and this period is also a critical window of vulnerability to socio-economic challenges (e.g. poverty), with adverse conditions affecting brain development, and subsequently the individual’s academic achievement, mental health and economic status.
The PIPKIN Study (Perinatal Imaging in Partnership with Families) is a unique, dense, longitudinal study of the typical development of the infant brain and the impact of the infant’s social environment, following families from the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, through their infant’s first year.
Participants will be recruited from a range of low/high resource families. They will complete two antenatal ultrasound scans, an antenatal home visit, two newborn testing sessions (during the first two weeks of life), and testing sessions at one, 5 and 9 months old. When the infant is between 1 and 5 months old, a number of home environment monitoring visits will allow us to record the infant’s home environment through audio, video and physiological recordings.
We will use a range of measures to study early development including: (i) high-density functional near-infrared (fNIRS) spectroscopy and electroencephalography (EEG) to record the nature and pace of brain development, and (ii) behavioural measures of development such as the Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale (NBAS), and eye-tracking during screen-based tasks. Participants will also complete online questionnaires throughout the study to tell us about their socio-demographic background and their feelings and experiences of pregnancy and parenting, and hair and nail samples will be collected for cortisol analysis.
This research is funded by grants to Prof. Mark Johnson (MRC Program Grant), and Dr. Sarah Lloyd-Fox (UKRI Fellowship).REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EM/0004
Date of REC Opinion
21 Mar 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion