The role of maternal and offspring metabolic and anthropometric gene variants in fetal and childhood growth

Since starting her Fellowship in 2008, Rachel has had the opportunity to contribute to genome-wide association studies that identified genes for type 2 diabetes, BMI, height and, more recently, birth weight. Her Fellowship aims to follow up these studies by investigating the roles of these genes in fetal and childhood growth. She is spending time in Chicago, Bristol, Oxford and Exeter to work with and learn from experts in genetics and epidemiology, and to analyse genetic associations in large datasets of mothers and their babies from around the world.