# NYU Pediatric Obesity, Metabolism and Kidney Cohort Center

> **NIH NIH UH3** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $339,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has largely spared children, with relatively few requiring medical
care. A small case series failed to reveal effects on birth outcomes in mothers with COVID-19 pneumonia, yet
the absence of effects may in part relate to these mothers having been infected in third trimester, as the timing
of infection is well known to influence adverse effects in pregnancy. A major barrier to population-based
studies of SARS-CoV-2 infection has been the lack of a noninvasive method to detect viral RNA.
Nasopharyngeal swabs are invasive, require personal protective equipment and swabs which have been in
limited supply, and may be less sensitive than salivary samples for SARS-CoV-2 detection. Studies of
adaptive immunity following infection in children have also been limited by the need for venipuncture to collect
sufficient serum for validated testing of antibody. Our research team has developed novel methods for
measuring SARS-CoV-2 infection in saliva, as well as IgG and IgM antibody responses to the spike protein and
the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 in dried blood spots (DBS). Substantial psychosocial stress is
likely to have occurred in pregnant women during the pandemic, whether due to fear of infection, job loss,
economic stress, psychological or physical trauma, or other factors. Psychological stress during pregnancy is
known to increase prematurity, yet stress and viral effects have not been examined together as yet. We had
previously received PO permission to reallocate Year 4 funds in the NYU Children’s Health and Environment
Study (CHES, UH3OD23305) and the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH,
UH3OD023290) to add remote and repeated saliva, dried blood spot, and hair collection in cohorts
prospectively enrolling mothers into ECHO, using kits assembled by Fisher BioSciences for the ECHO
program. We propose to expand this effort over the next year to newly enrolled mothers in NYU CHES (N=200
mothers), CCCEH (N=20 mothers) as well as the Michigan Archive for Research in Children’s Health (MARCH,
UH3OD23285, N=20 mothers). We also wish to continue data collection in already enrolled NYU CHES
(N=340 pregnant women as of March 1, 2020) and CCCEH (N=40 pregnant women as of March 1, 2020)
mothers. The data will be supplemented by chart abstraction for all SARS-CoV-2 testing.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10205714
- **Project number:** 3UH3OD023305-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Leonardo Trasande
- **Activity code:** UH3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $339,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2016-09-21 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10205714

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10205714, NYU Pediatric Obesity, Metabolism and Kidney Cohort Center (3UH3OD023305-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10205714. Licensed CC0.

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