GenView edition #12 | JULY 2025

Momentum builds across GenV 

We are so pleased to report that GenV continues to grow in scale, impact, and collaboration.

GenV in the national spotlight 
GenV featured on ABC Radio National’s Health Report, where Professor Jim Buttery highlighted how GenV’s scale is enabling vital research into the safety of RSV vaccination during pregnancy - an example of Victorian data driving national health impact. 

In this edition of GenView, we share more exciting updates, including: 
•  New research on Victoria’s MCH data 
•  Our published study protocol 
•  Microbiome collection milestones 
•  Innovative collaborations like FaceMatch 

Thanks to the ongoing trust of our participating families and the growing interest from researchers and partners, GenV is entering a new phase where data access, collaboration, and discovery are taking shape. We look forward to sharing more later this year, including updates on our research portal, data linkage initiatives, Intervention Hub and collaborative studies. 

Professor Melissa Wake and Ms Natasha Zaritski, GenV Directors 
With the GenV Leadership Team 

Gut Health, Real Impact: Tracking the Microbiome Over Time

This World Microbiome Day (June 27), GenV celebrated an important milestone - nearly 10,000 infant stool samples collected, making this one of the largest longitudinal collections of its kind globally.

Thanks to high trust and engagement from our cohort families, GenV recently received over 50% response to our second call-out for stool samples from participating children at age two. This result far exceeding our 20–30% target giving researchers a unique chance to study how the microbiome evolves in early life, from the newborn phase to toddlerhood.

In addition to supporting bioscience research, the follow-up also helped GenV update address information. Keeping our cohort location data accurate is not only important for future engagement but also for the quality of our geospatial research and data linkage projects.

“The kinds of microbes that end up in the gut can predict things like allergies, asthma, weight gain and depression. If we can understand when and how these changes happen, we might be able to help children stay healthier through simple changes to diet or by giving probiotics (helpful bacteria) at the right time.” – GenV Deputy Scientific Director Professor Richard Saffery

FaceMatch and GenV: Unlocking Diagnosis Through Technology 

GenV is proud to support innovative research that can transform lives. We’re now partnering with the University of Newcastle on FaceMatch, a ground-breaking project harnessing facial recognition technology to improve diagnosis of rare genetic conditions in children with moderate to severe intellectual disability.

Many families can spend long and stressful months and years searching for answers for their child. Rare genetic conditions can be especially difficult, with many children remaining undiagnosed until later in childhood - by which time the child may have missed critical windows when therapy and learning support can be most effective

Using advanced algorithms, FaceMatch is developing its platform to identify facial patterns linked to specific syndromes in infancy, helping to uncover previously undiagnosed conditions and even discovering new conditions . As part of this collaboration, GenV will contribute to Aim 1 of the study: evaluating how well FaceMatch technology works within a large, diverse population - starting with GenV’s own cohort.

GenV takes privacy and data security seriously. In the FaceMatch study, images are never merged with other GenV research data. Only the extracted data is used for analysis; we follow strict safety steps to make sure all images are stored securely.

This partnership reflects how GenV’s real-world data and biosamples can accelerate discovery in precision medicine and improve outcomes for children and families.

Enabling Discovery: GenV’s Research Access and Data Linkage 

GenV is building one of Australia’s most accessible and collaborative research platforms. Researchers from MCRI, universities across Australia, and global institutions can access GenV’s data and biosamples to fast-track discovery and innovation.

Later this year, we look forward to sharing more about:

· Our upcoming research portal, designed to simplify access and showcase available data.

· Our data linkage project with the Centre for Victorian Data Linkage (CVDL), strengthening connections across health, education, and social datasets.

· Collaborative studies already underway - demonstrating GenV’s potential to support diverse research questions and accelerate solutions for children and families.

Whether you’re shaping policy, driving innovation, or asking the next big question in children's or parents' health and wellbeing, GenV is here to support your work.

Interested in learning more? Get in touch with our team to discuss collaborating with GenV or to receive a Collaborating with GenV Information Pack.

We’re proud to have close to 124,000 participants in the GenV program including almost 50,000 children. While we celebrate these strong numbers, we are also strengthening the message that ‘The door is always open’. Any family - whether new to or long established in Victoria - with a child born 4 October 2021- 3 October 2023 is welcome to join our study and help make this generation our healthiest generation ever! 

Missed an edition? Find all previous GenView newsletters here.