Life Course Microbiomics: How Early Microbial, Nutritional, and Psychosocial Environments Shape Mental and Cognitive Development
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbiomes".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 17
Special Issue Editors
Interests: gut microbiome; probiotics and prebiotics; fermented foods; food safety; metabolomics; intestinal and respiratory infections and antimicrobials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The perinatal period and early childhood represent critical windows during which the maternal and infant microbiomes undergo profound shifts with long-lasting implications for health. Growing evidence highlights the dynamic interplay between microbial communities, maternal nutrition and lifestyle, psychosocial and mental health factors, and early neurodevelopment. Yet, the mechanisms linking these domains across pregnancy, the postpartum period, and child development remain incompletely understood.
This Special Issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research that advances our understanding of the maternal–infant microbiome continuum and its relevance to psychological, cognitive, and developmental outcomes. We welcome contributions that explore how diet, nutrients, stress, physical activity, environmental exposures, and other modifiable factors shape maternal or child microbiome trajectories; how microbial and metabolic pathways interact with maternal mental health; how biological networks of mother and child may be linked; and how early-life microbial patterns relate to cognitive development, emotional regulation, and child wellbeing.
Submissions may include original research articles, cohort studies, mechanistic or multi-omics analyses, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and well-founded conceptual or methodological papers. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Microbiome changes across pregnancy, postpartum, lactation, and early childhood;
- Nutrition, dietary patterns, and lifestyle determinants of the maternal and infant microbiomes;
- Links between the gut–brain axis, maternal mental health, and infant or child cognitive outcomes;
- Microbiome–metabolome–neurodevelopment interactions;
- Effects of stress, sleep, or psychosocial factors on microbiome development;
- Interventions targeting microbiome modulation (e.g., diet, probiotics, prebiotics) in the perinatal or early-life period;
- Microbiome signatures associated with early emotional, behavioral, or cognitive trajectories.
This Special Issue aims to foster interdisciplinary dialog and highlight innovative strategies to understand and support maternal and child health through a microbiome-informed lens. We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Harsharn Gill
Guest Editor
Dr. Katie Louise Barfoot
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- maternal–infant microbiome
- gut–brain axis
- microbiome–metabolome–neurodevelopment interactions life course
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