Tick Tock in the Womb: How Biological Ageing Before Birth Drives Life-Long Health

Join us for the Healthy Development Adelaide (HDA) and Robinson Research Institute forum.

What if your health in later life was already shaped before you were even born?

We often think of ageing as something that happens later in life—but scientists are uncovering something much more surprising. It turns out that the processes of biological ageing—how quickly our cells and tissues wear out—begin in the womb, and they play a powerful role in shaping our health across the lifespan.

Join us for an eye-opening evening of science, stories, and solutions as two of the Robinson Research Institute’s emerging leaders share their discoveries on how ageing starts before birth, and what this means for pregnancy outcomes, childhood development, and our risk of disease later in life.

You’ll hear how environmental and lifestyle factors around conception can "set the clock" for the embryo, how a unique and short-lived organ—the placenta—can age too fast or too slow, and how this can affect whether a baby is born too early, too small, or at higher risk of illness.

Discover:

• Why not all ageing is the same—and why that matters
• How pregnancy can shape the long-term health of the next generation
• What researchers are doing now to optimise health outcomes before life even begins

This free event is open to everyone - scientists, students, policy makers, health professionals, and curious community members. Come along and find out what it really means to be born old—and why we may not be doomed after all.

OUR SPEAKERS

Dr Yasmyn Winstanley, Postdoctoral Researcher, Ovarian Cell Biology and Embryology group, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide

Maternal health at conception shapes child biological age

How early-life exposures influence the embryo’s biological ageing clocks, and what we can do to prevent or even reverse damage.

Dr Anya Arthurs, Future Making Fellow, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide

Beat the Clock: detecting placental ageing to signal stillbirth risk

The placenta’s unique role in regulating ageing before birth, and what happens when its internal clock ticks off-beat.

OUR CHAIR

Professor David MacIntyre, Director, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide

For full program details and to register please got to: https://events.humanitix.com/tick-tock-in-the-womb-how-biological-ageing-before-birth-drives-life-long-health