The ‘Growth, ALlergy and NeuroDevelopment in Infants On hydrolySed formulA’, or GRANDIOSA study started up in late 2022. It is conducted at two study sites: Umeå and Malmö and the purpose of the study is to determine the effects of two novel protein hydrolysates on infants’ growth, neurological development, allergies, gastrointestinal symptoms and other health outcomes.
GRANDIOSA is a blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial to test two new partially hydrolysed infant formulas. The children will follow their assigned regimen until they are five months old and there will be regular follow-up of the children until they are one year old.
Digital meetings are held regularly but on Friday 20 October 2023 the whole study team met in real life for the first time for an all-day study meeting in Umeå.
Participants during the day were:
From Umeå: Magnus Domellöf (PI), Christina West (co-PI), Sara Olivecrona (PhD student), Marie Lindvall, Gunilla Strinnholm, Isael Neyra Marklund and Stina Segerstedt-Clode (research nurses)
From Malmö: Pia Karlsland Åkeson (PI), Eleni Kordi (PhD student), Ingrid Avenäs and Filippa Wikström (research nurses)
From Arla Foods Ingredients: Lotte Neergaard Jacobsen
The morning had plenty of presentations all relevant to the study. Eleni presented background data and the use of the REDCap e-CRF system, Christina talked about allergy and immunology and Pia about metabolism/metabolic biomarkers. Magnus presented data on growth in relation to infant formula and Sara discussed neurodevelopment assessment methods with focus on functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which is a novel method that we are using for the first time in this study. Lotte from Arla provided a scientific and regulatory background on the specific hydrolysates used in the study.
The afternoon session had open discussions on practical topics which helped to standardize and streamline procedures and further strengthen the collaboration between the two study sites.“The diverse presentations showed the great potential for this unique study, this physical meeting was important for teambuilding and Umeå even provided some snow for our visitors from the south” said Magnus Domellöf, PI for the study.
Meeting participants from left to right in the photo: Ingrid, Filippa, Christina, Stina, Gunilla, Isabel. Magnus, Marie, Pia, Lotte, Sara and Eleni.