Researchers are expected to monitor an entire generation of Victorians to learn more about complex health issues such as asthma, food allergies, obesity, autism and mental illness.
Over the next two years approximately 150,000 children born in the state in addition to their parents will have the opportunity to participate in Generation Victoria at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, which launched on Sunday.
The project, starting at Joan Kirner Women and Children’s Hospital in Sunshine, will be rolled out to all Victorian birth hospitals from 2021 to 2023.
The selection project will explore essential links between environment, genetics, physical traits and developmental milestones later in life.
All information obtained in the study will be anonymised and the highest privacy provisions will apply.
The GenV project, the first from Australia, is a joint venture between the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the Royal Children’s Hospital and the University of Melbourne.
Medical innovation and research minister Jaala Pulford said the project would benefit Victorians for “future generations”.
“It will allow our world-renowned researchers to break new ground and discover discoveries that will improve the quality of life of Victorians in all parts of the state,” Ms Pulford said in a statement on Sunday.
The GenV director of the Murdoch Children ‘s Research Institute, Dr Melissa Wake, said the project would be open to all communities in the state.