# Lifecourse Approach to Developmental Repercussions of Environmental Agents on Metabolic and Respiratory health (LA DREAMERs)

> **NIH NIH UH3** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2022 · $5,552,614

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
 
Scientific evidence in both humans and animal models suggests that prenatal, early life and potentially
transgenerational environmental exposures can result in childhood health deficits and life-long consequences
in subsequent generations. In particular, exposures to elevated ambient air pollution, regional and near-
roadway pollutants, and heavy metals have been associated with respiratory and/or metabolic health outcomes
in childhood. Much less is known about the effects of prenatal exposures on these outcomes, and virtually
nothing is known about whether exposures during previous generations can affect respiratory and metabolic
outcomes - illustrating critical gaps in scientific knowledge. Studies are just beginning to disentangle the effects
of mixtures across the life course using novel biomarkers of exposure, biological mediators and innovative
statistical methods. We will address these critical gaps in a new proposal entitled “Life course Approach to
Developmental Repercussions of Environmental Agents on MEtabolic and Respiratory health (LA
DREAMERs).”The major goal of this proposal is to take a transgenerational life course approach to
studying the contribution of the environment to the developmental origins of childhood and emerging
adult respiratory and metabolic health. LA DREAMERs will combine 8931 subjects from two population-
based longitudinal cohorts of children that cover the prenatal to early adulthood periods of exposure- the
Maternal And Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) and Children's Health
Study (CHS) cohorts. The proposed study addresses the following key questions in the field: 1) Do prenatal
and early childhood environmental exposures alter childhood and emergent adult respiratory and metabolic
health? If so, are there critical periods of exposure across the lifecourse? 2) What is the role of altered
immune functions in the underlying biological mechanisms? 3) Will more precise exposure assessment for
ambient air pollutants through application of a national spatiotemporal model or development of biomarkers in
neonatal dried blood spots and cord blood allow critical components of the mixture to be identified? 4) Do
prenatal environmental exposures induce transgenerational epigenetic alterations that help explain increased
risk of disease? 5) Can innovative statistical approaches untangle the effects of exposure mixtures on multiple
health outcomes? We will address these important questions by focusing on the health effects of ambient and
near-roadway air pollution, metals (As, Pb, Cd, Hg), and novel albumin adducts (e.g. reactive electrophiles
such as oxidized polyaromatic hydrocarbons and quinones) in a series of three distinct research projects
focused on respiratory health (ECHO Focus area #1), metabolic health (ECHO Focus area #2) and statistical
methods. By combining MADRES and CHS, we are uniquely positioned to answer environmental health
questions pertaining to respirat...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10469376
- **Project number:** 5UH3OD023287-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Theresa M Bastain
- **Activity code:** UH3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $5,552,614
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-21 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10469376

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10469376, Lifecourse Approach to Developmental Repercussions of Environmental Agents on Metabolic and Respiratory health (LA DREAMERs) (5UH3OD023287-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10469376. Licensed CC0.

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