Background
Generation Victoria (GenV) is a whole-of-state initiative in Victoria, Australia, designed to enhance the speed, capacity and connectedness of currently disparate aspects of children’s research.
Aim
GenV aims to generate evidence that will reduce the burden of modern childhood epidemics and thence rates of adult chronic diseases, and in so doing change the landscape of large scale research.
Methods
The GenV 2020 Cohort will be open to the families of all 160,000 babies born in Victoria over two years from late 2020. At its foundation are consent, maximising use of existing data and biospecimens, augmentation with phenotypic measures, and a design that combines the capacity for both observational and rigorous intervention research spanning wellness to uncommon illness. To avoid the burden and attrition of traditional birth cohort studies, it will bring together high-dimensional (e.g. genomic), geographic and large linked administrative datasets, and capitalise on existing health visits to collect data crucial to understanding chronic disease.
Results
Since launching in December 2017 with philanthropic and state government funding, GenV has focused on building its LifeCourse Data Repository, commissioning state-of-the-art biobanking facilities, developing the 2020 Cohort Protocol, and setting up the GenV Solutions Hub that will drive policy partnerships, discovery and intervention capabilities, capacity building, knowledge transfer and public dialogue.
Conclusion
GenV conceptualises an entire system (the state of Victoria) becoming a single dynamic research platform. By 2035, its vision is to have helped solve complex issues affecting today’s children and helped prevent the ‘diseases of ageing’ faced by tomorrow’s adults.