Supporting Holien will be a postdoctoral fellow based at RMIT's innovation hub in Barcelona, RMIT Europe, a partner in the project contributing communications and stakeholder engagement expertise.
Dr Gabriela Irrazabal, a social scientist at RMIT Europe, will lead co-creation activities to ensure that the project's direction and outcomes respectfully align with the clinical priorities of the project’s research beneficiaries.
“We will collaborate with families of preterm-born children and people with lived experience of autism throughout the research journey, ensuring that their needs directly shape and impact the outcomes of the project,” said Irrazabal.
The Microbiota-Immune-Cognition Relationships from Neonatal Environments to Social Trajectories (MICRO-NEST) project aims to transform the detection and care for children born preterm diagnosed with autism whose long-term health can benefit from early intervention, therapy and support.
The project proposes that prenatal and perinatal microenvironments, including the immune system, gut microbiota and early life events, form a developmental 'nest' that shapes the gene-driven trajectory of brain maturation.
Project Coordinator Professor Pierre Gressens from Inserm said the research will lead to improved autism diagnosis and more equitable outcomes, given that many children are not diagnosed until after the age of five.
“These missed opportunities to provide support and therapies during critical moments in early life are compounded by inequity of access and high lifetime costs for individuals, families and health systems,” he said.
“MICRO-NEST addresses the early diagnosis gap by identifying early-life biological markers, generating new tools, and informing neonatal and autism support guidelines for anticipatory care.”
The five-year project begins in September 2026. For more information, contact research.europe@rmit.edu.au.
Partners: Inserm (coordinator); RMIT University; RMIT Europe; University Medical Center Utrecht; University Hospital Essen; King’s College London; University of Edinburgh; Maastricht University; University of Rostock; Gothenburg University; Unapei; Global Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants; Technische Universität Dresden; Genos Ltd; University of Geneva; Inserm Transfert SA.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Story: Hannah Tribe
