The Development of Circadian Rhythms in Human Infants

is work performed using animal models (Welsh et al., 2004, Nagoshi et al., 2005).
Investigating longitudinal trends over several weeks or months in this project required
a robust protocol, determination on the part of the researchers and persistence and
patience on the part the parents collecting the swabs. The collection of samples for
RNA extraction from the infants, alongside several other measurements, over a
lengthy period; made the project more labour intensive. This however did not affect
the retention or compliance of the participant families, which was very high (100%
retention - see results section 3.2).
The method of buccal cell collection from the infants was straight forward and simple
to train mothers to do themselves without supervision from a member of the team.
This study illustrates that home based sample collection; even in a molecular biology
research program can be successful in small babies with a carer as main research
assistant.
First, we were, after a significant investment of time, finance and effort, able to
identify laboratory techniques which were reproducible and suitable for the type of
samples we had. This was a tremendous feat due to the huge technical challenges
faced during the processing of the samples. Multiple kits and methods were
systematically trialled and tested before any results were obtained. The entire process
took several months to set up and assess before any infant samples were processed.
Despite this, the results remain striking.
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