2024 - 2026

Health and illness in the course of life are already influenced in the womb. Unfavourable influences, including maternal stress during pregnancy, can permanently impair the health and development of the offspring. The biological mechanisms responsible for this (endocrine, vascular, immunological and epigenetic processes during pregnancy) are being investigated in the research field of "foetal programming".

The question of whether and how social aspects (e.g. income, characteristics of the living environment) and challenging biographical experiences of the mothers are reflected in the stress biology and to what extent they are transferred to the child in utero is still under-researched.

As part of Prof. Dr Jacob Spallek's research professorship, a feasibility study is being conducted in cooperation with Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin to test the implementation of a comprehensive social epidemiological cohort study in mother-child dyads in Lusatia.