Participant information

Recruitment

Families with children born between 2020-2024 are invited to take part. We are planning to recruit 350 families over 6 years.

If you are interested in taking part we will ask you to read our study information sheet.

You may wish to discuss the study details with your family, friends or doctor. We are also here to answer any questions you may have by emailing us at gen2020@kcl.ac.uk.

Watch our short study video below

The day of the visit

We will invite you and your child to spend the day with us at the The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London in Camberwell, London.

Questionnaires

We will ask you to complete some questionnaires about your home environment, your pregnancy and also about your child’s development and behaviour.

Play-assessment and games

We will play games and use toys to determine how your child thinks, reacts and learns about the world around them.

We will look at your child’s eye-movements as they watch faces and moving objects on a screen. We will also invite your child to wear an EEG cap (Electroencephalography) that can record brain activity whilst watching the screen. Using a hand-held device we will look in your child’s eyes (Electroretinogram).

MRI scan

We ask your permission to take some pictures of your child’s brain using MRI. To make this an enjoyable experience we have a VR headset so that children can play games or watch cartoons during the scan.

You can also listen to all the different sounds of the MRI machine here.

Biosamples (not available yet)

We will ask you to take a small sample of bloods from your child and some hair for the purposes of immune biomarkers, genetic analysis and generation of induced pluripotent stem cells. These are unique cells that we can grow in culture in the lab, and they possess the ability to become cells in different tissues and organs. These stem cells will help us understand the cellular mechanisms that drive brain development.

Sleep tracking (not available yet)

To track your child’s sleep we will ask you to take home an activity tracking writstwatch for your child to wear while they sleep.