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Title: Developmental programming: State-of-the-science and future directions-summary from a Pennington biomedical symposium

Author
item SUTTON, ELIZABETH - Pennington Biomedical Research Center
item GILMORE, LINDAA - Pennington Biomedical Research Center
item DUNGER, DAVID - Cambridge University
item HEIJMANS, BAS - Leiden University Medical Center
item HIVERT, MARIE-FRANCE - Harvard Medical School
item LING, CHARLOTTE - Lund University
item MARTINEZ, J. ALFREDO - University Of Navarra
item OZANNE, SUSAN - University Of Cambridge
item SIMMONS, REBECCA - University Of Pennsylvania
item SZYF, MOSHE - McGill University - Canada
item WATERLAND, ROBERT - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item REDMAN, LEANNE - Pennington Biomedical Research Center
item RAVUSSIN, ERIC - Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Submitted to: Obesity
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/2/2016
Publication Date: 4/1/2016
Citation: Sutton, E.F., Gilmore, L., Dunger, D.B., Heijmans, B.T., Hivert, M., Ling, C., Martinez, J., Ozanne, S.E., Simmons, R.A., Szyf, M., Waterland, R.A., Redman, L.M., Ravussin, E. 2016. Developmental programming: State-of-the-science and future directions-summary from a Pennington biomedical symposium. Obesity. 24:1018–1026. doi:10.1002/oby.21487.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: On December 8-9, 2014, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center convened a scientific symposium to review the state-of-the-science and future directions for the study of developmental programming of obesity and chronic disease. The objectives of the symposium were to discuss: (i) past and current scientific advances in animal models, population-based cohort studies, and human clinical trials, (ii) the state-of-the-science of epigenetic-based research, and (iii) considerations for future studies. This symposium provided a comprehensive assessment of the state of the scientific field and identified research gaps and opportunities for future research in order to understand the mechanisms contributing to the developmental programming of health and disease. Identifying the mechanisms which cause or contribute to developmental programming of future generations will be invaluable to the scientific and medical community. The ability to intervene during critical periods of prenatal and early postnatal life to promote lifelong health is the ultimate goal. Considerations for future research including the use of animal models, the study design in human cohorts with considerations about the timing of the intrauterine exposure, and the resulting tissue-specific epigenetic signature were extensively discussed and are presented in this meeting summary.