Microbiome Study

In partnership with The Lullaby Trust, this research project is investigating the role of infection and bacteria in sudden unexpected deaths in infancy and childhood (SUDI).

Led by Professor Neil Sebire at Great Ormond Street Hospital, this study will look at the microbiome - the collection of tiny organisms, including bacteria and viruses, which live on and in the human body. The project will investigate whether specific combinations of infection-causing bacteria are associated with SUDI. We are now at a point of understanding the microbiome better than we ever have before. New techniques can reliably identify the type and amount of different organisms present in the microbiome. These techniques have never before been applied to post-mortem records of SUDI cases. Great Ormond Street Hospital is one of the world’s leading centres for investigating SUDI and has an existing database with thousands of post-mortem details. Using this database, the microbiome of anonymised samples will be analysed using modern techniques and these results will be compared with those of standard post-mortems, to inform our understanding of the relationship between infection, SUDI, and other known risk factors.

Teddy’s Wish have contributed £11,000