# Nutritional modulation of fetal susceptibility to lower birth weight in relation to inorganic arsenic (iAs) exposure

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2022 · $39,580

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
This NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31-Diversity) application seeks to
promote the training of Jeliyah Clark, a pre-doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Sciences and
Engineering at UNC Chapel Hill. Ms. Clark intends to become an independent academic investigator and will
receive guidance from her sponsors, Drs. Rebecca Fry and Carmen Marsit, leaders in environmental health;
advisory committee, Drs. Alex Keil, Julia Rager, and Mirek Styblo, experts in epidemiology, toxicology, and
nutrition, respectively; and mentor, Dr. Chantel Martin, expert in epidemiology. Given widespread inorganic
arsenic (iAs) contamination of drinking water, the proposed research will assess nutritional modification of fetal
susceptibility to iAs-associated decreases in birth weight. Exposure to iAs during pregnancy is a major public
health concern because iAs is a potent developmental toxicant, with several studies linking prenatal exposure to
lower birth weight. iAs is also associated with transcriptional dysregulation promoting oxidative stress,
inflammation, and other development-related signaling in fetal cells, representing a potential biological
mechanism. Notably, iAs metabolism is dependent on folate and other B vitamins comprising the one-carbon
metabolism pathway, and B vitamin supplementation has been shown to reduce iAs toxicity. However, iAs-
nutrient interactions remain understudied in relation to fetal development, representing a critical barrier to low
birth weight prevention. The central hypothesis of this research is that maternal diet modifies fetal susceptibility
to iAs-associated decreases in birth weight. In Aim 1, Ms. Clark will determine whether the negative association
between iAs exposure and infant BW is modified by maternal serum concentrations of OCM factors. In Aim 2,
she will assess whether OCM factors attenuate the positive association between iAs exposure and expression
of genes promoting oxidative stress imbalance and inflammation in cord blood. The proposed research will
leverage data from an existing pregnancy cohort, the Biomarkers of Exposure to Arsenic (BEAR) cohort (N=200).
Likelihood ratio tests of nested linear regression models will be employed to evaluate effect modification of the
association between iAs exposure and birth weight (Aim 1) and gene expression in cord blood (Aim 2) by one-
carbon metabolism factors. Additionally, data collected from a replication pregnancy cohort will be utilized to
validate findings in Aim 1. This research is innovative, as few studies evaluating B vitamins as determinants of
maternal iAs methylation efficiency also integrate birth weight and multi-omics assessments that may portend
decreased iAs toxicity at the molecular level. The research will have a significant impact, as it explores maternal
diet as a preventative intervention for iAs-associated lower birth weight and may inform food fortification policy
and dietary recommenda...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10386034
- **Project number:** 1F31ES033925-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Jeliyah Shaquan Clark
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $39,580
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-02-15 → 2024-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10386034

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10386034, Nutritional modulation of fetal susceptibility to lower birth weight in relation to inorganic arsenic (iAs) exposure (1F31ES033925-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10386034. Licensed CC0.

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