The INITIALISE kick-off meeting took place in Turku, Finland on the 24^th and 25^th of April 2023. During the meeting the progress and upcoming tasks of the project were presented, focusing especially on data management, integration and harmonization (Work Package 3), multi-omics and systems biology methods (WP 4), multi-omics studies in clinical cohorts (WP 5) and mechanistic studies linking exposures and immune system development (WP 6). The birth cohort studies that will be involved in WP5 were presented. The cohorts consist of four general population cohorts: FinnBrain, ABIS, Lifelines Next and MAMI (“MAternal Microbes” study from Spain). Also included are TRIGR,  a cohort comprising children who are genetically at risk of type 1 diabetes, and NeoCel, a cohort including children who have a close relative with celiac’s disease. WP 6 also includes study of human fetuses (SAFeR study), which will allow for investigations of the immune system development during the prenatal period.

The consortium meeting was concluded by INITIALISE workshop on 26^th of April 2023, were some of the INITIALISE Principal Investigators presented their latest research.