September 2026
Dr Shruthi Alahari has had her study published where she has filled in some gaps in the knowledge around the molecular effects of preeclampsia. The paper can be found here.
September 2026
Cindy Zhang investigated whether inflammatory protein levels changed at different times of the year during pregnancy for individuals who reported generally having a lower mood in the fall and winter. You can read more about her research here.
June 2026
This month the OBS published a paper in the International Journal of Epidemiology that describes the cohort and provides a summary of the research that has come out of it. By completing this paper, the team hopes to invite more world-class researchers to draw new conclusions from the resources generously provided by participants and to facilitate their publications by explaining the OBS framework so it can be cited. We invite you to read it here.
May 2026
The OBS warmly welcomes Melina Alledavood, an undergraduate student from the University of Waterloo, to our team for the next 8 months. You can read more about Melina on her profile.
March 2026
Kate Finegold expanded on her previous research using OBS resources (see here) by investigating child development at 24 months. This PhD candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) investigated maternal maternal depressive and anxious symptoms during pregnancy and in the first years of their child’s life finding that more reported symptoms were linked to lower motor skills in the child, and this effect was also linked to experience of the COVID pandemic. Her paper can be found here.
February 2026
Participants have received our newest newsletter! This year we shone a light on a couple of recent papers that stem from OBS data, some of the testing instruments used in the study and introduce two long-term members of the research team. You can find the full newsletter here.
May 2025
The OBS has been included in the Wellcome Trust’s Atlas of Longitudinal Dataset. Being present on this platform helps researchers discover the OBS and yield new research opportunities. You can find our listing here.
April 2025
OBS resources were used by Masters student Wagma Saad in their newest publication that determined that the number of child awakenings at age 3 was linked to the severity of maternal depressive symptoms in the second trimester.
February 2025
This month we had our 2,000th child take part in a follow-up interview! It’s amazing to see all of these OBS babies as they grow up.
February 2025
The OBS annual newsletter has been sent out and this issue covers some questions we have received about how the samples our participants have so generously provided are used by researchers. We highlight PhD Candidate Kate Finegold who is working with the data having previously published papers on the effect of the pandemic on child development and wellbeing, and our co-operative education student, Emily Dang. The full newsletter can be found here.
January 2025
Preeclampsia is a difficult pregnancy complication and Peter Park, a member of Dr. Caniggia’s lab at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, has found some of the molecular mechanisms that underlie this disorder. His paper describes how preeclampsia causes damage to the cardiovascular system, a key step in identifying methods to intervene and protect the mother and baby.
January 2025
The OBS is excited to welcome Isha Basra, an undergraduate student studying public health at the University of Waterloo, to our team for the next 8 months.
August 2024
Dr. Robert Levitan, a CAMH psychiatrist and researcher, has found a risk factor for child cognition at 4.5 years old. Mothers with major depression early in pregnancy delivered children who had lower scores than their peers. The paper can be found here.
February 2024
Dr. Klemetti, a researcher in the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, has extended the research into extracellular vesicles (small packets of nutrients and molecules in the bloodstream) by identifying lipid profiles (the specific composition of fat molecules) that can indicate an increased likelihood of foetal growth restriction. These findings help identify which mothers can be targeted with an intervention to improve the growth of their babies during pregnancy and helping them have the best start to life possible.
February 2024
Our newest newsletter was sent out to participants and we’ve been hearing our participants want to learn more about ongoing research. Included in this newsletter is a summary of projects that were presented by six leading researchers and trainees at our Science Forum in October with more information found here.
You can find the entire newsletter in our newsletter section.
November 2023
Kate Finegold, a PhD Candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), has published a new article that describes the development experiences of children born before the COVID-19 pandemic and those that had some pandemic experience. Using OBS resources, she noted the differences in emotional-social skills and cognitive skills between these groups.
October 2023
The OBS hosted a Science Forum where researchers were invited to discuss different studies that were conducted with OBS data and samples. A summary of the presentations can be found at http://ontariobirthstudy.com/OBS-Science-Forum-Presentations
April 2023
Dr. Sruthi Alahari has published a paper that identifies a potential new biomarker of preeclampsia. Using samples from OBS participants, Dr. Alahari is hoping to find a method of diagnosing a difficult pregnancy complication early and helping mothers get treatment sooner.
January 2023
This month, the first OBS Kids participants to complete all 4 follow-ups have graduated from the study! A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has helped to make this study so successful.
December 2022
This month we recruited our 4,000th participant in the OBS! Thank you all for your support.
December 2022
The first annual newsletter from the OBS and OBS Kids has been released. There are some summaries of studies that have recently been published that used OBS data or samples and include a link to the full article. Thank you to all the people who have been involved in the study through their pregnancies and child follow-ups!