# E3Gen: Multigenerational Effects of Toxicant Exposures on Life Course Health and Neurocognitive Outcomes in the ELEMENT Birth Cohorts

> **NIH NIH R24** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $78,668

## Abstract

E3Gen: Multigenerational effects of toxicant exposures on life course health and neurocognitive
outcomes in the ELEMENT birth cohorts
SUMMARY
The impact of environmental toxicants on health and disease risk during sensitive developmental
periods has been recognized for nearly 20 years, as highlighted by the developmental origins of adult
disease hypothesis and life course epidemiology. Yet, the potential to understand novel mechanisms
implicit in these frameworks has not been fully realized. Few environmental cohorts have followed
mother-child dyads beyond adolescence, precluding the ability to understand long-term impacts of
toxicant exposures in young adulthood and perimenopause—both dynamic life stages characterized by
increased risk of metabolic syndrome and potential changes in neurocognitive processes. The E3Gen
project, based on our highly successful, 22-year research collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de
Salud Pública de Mexico (INSP), comprises three birth cohorts of women originally recruited from 1994-
2004, their children now aged 12-22 years, and the next generation of grandchildren currently being
born. This R24 application leverages the research infrastructure of our ongoing studies in the Early Life
Exposure in Mexico to ENvironmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) cohorts and of three NIEHS-funded
centers at the University of Michigan, creating an unparalleled opportunity launch new research that
maximizes use of the existing biorepository and rich database of repeated toxicant exposures and
metabolic and neurocognitive outcomes and that promotes accelerated data and resource sharing with
the larger environmental health sciences community. Specific Aims are to: 1) Maintain and enhance
the scientific integrity of the E3Gen multigenerational cohort and implement strategies to encourage
participation and prevent loss to follow up among 850 mothers aged 38-50 years, their children aged
12-22 years, while also recruiting 90 grandchildren currently and projected to be born over the next five
years; 2) Prepare for future scientific studies considering the roles of epigenetics, oral health and oral
microbiome in mediating the impact of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and metals on metabolic
and neurocognitive outcomes across three generations of ELEMENT participants; 3)
Develop and test
novel data management techniques to improve and enrich data integration and harmonization, data
sharing, and cross-project data communication.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10201826
- **Project number:** 3R24ES028502-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Karen Eileen Peterson
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $78,668
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-09-30 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10201826

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10201826, E3Gen: Multigenerational Effects of Toxicant Exposures on Life Course Health and Neurocognitive Outcomes in the ELEMENT Birth Cohorts (3R24ES028502-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10201826. Licensed CC0.

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