The reproductive archive: multigenerational stress and the reproductive epigenome

Menstrual health is affected by stress, but we do not yet understand how stress gets under the skin to affect the biology of the uterine lining. This project will collect menstrual fluid samples from 600 Born in Bradford participants over three menstrual cycles. We will analyse the DNA from these samples to look for biological marks left by stress — particularly the kinds of stress that come from living in deprived neighbourhoods, economic hardship, or experiences of racism.

We will also interview participants about what it means to them to contribute this type of biological sample — one that may carry information not just about their own health but about the conditions their family has lived through. Findings will help explain why period problems are more common in some communities than others, inform more equitable reproductive healthcare, and help develop a framework for ethical collection and analysis of reproductive samples.