Pregnancy during the COVID-19 Pandemic study
Our goal is to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental and physical wellbeing of pregnant individuals and their babies.
Biosamples sub-studies
Dr. Giesbrecht oversees two ongoing Biosampling sub-studies for the PdP study. In one study, we are investigating the underlying biology of parental mental health and child development, and how different experiences influence this relationship (e.g., stressful experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic). The types of biology we are studying are the microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract (i.e., gut microbiome measured in the stool), stress hormones such as cortisol (i.e., hair), genetics and epigenetics (i.e., cheek swabs, saliva).
The other study investigates if prenatal or early life exposure to a COVID-19 infection impacts child development by investigating COVID-19 antibodies in maternal dried blood spot samples and child saliva samples.
