# Pre- and Postnatal Exposure Periods for Child Health: Common Risks and Shared Mechanisms

> **NIH NIH UH3** · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · 2022 · $2,437,800

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
There is rapidly growing evidence that the health and development of the child and adult can be traced to early
environmental influences. However, the vast majority of the evidence is correlational: fundamental questions
remain about which specific early exposures confer risk, when in development exposure may have significant
and lasting influence, and the mechanisms of effects. This application to the Environmental Influences on
Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) RFA (OD-16-004) synthesizes two recently initiated and highly compatible
pediatric cohort studies in which environmental exposures are being tracked in 500 pregnant mothers from the
1st trimester; we are already collecting extensive prenatal biological samples and placental samples as well as
detailed psychological, socio-demographic, and life history data. We especially target the prenatal period to
examine if and how prenatal exposures may “program” adaptive biological responses in the fetus and child,
with carry-forward effects on brain and somatic health; furthermore, we focus particularly on inflammation as a
mediator of environmental exposures because it is a compelling biological mechanism by which a wide range
of exposures may shape child neurodevelopment and obesity. These data, which cover cellular mechanisms
and social demography, will help translate how the range of environmental influences from pregnancy shape
child health outcomes. The 500 children will be extensively studied at newborn, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3
years, and 4 years of age using clinically derived and state-of-the-art behavioral, physical and biological
assessments of neurodevelopment and obesity.
 In the UG3 phase we will harmonize protocol development across sites; complete collection of prenatal
and a substantial majority of placental samples and perinatal outcomes across cohorts; commence collection
of neonatal brain imaging and physical development outcomes. We will also develop models for the biological
and social and demographic exposure data in preparation for analyses of child health outcomes in the UH3
phase. For the UH3 phase, we will characterize inflammation from multiple sources throughout pregnancy, in
the placenta, and in early infant development to identify its psychosocial, developmental, and environmental
exposure origins and sources. In addition, we will test alternative mechanisms by which prenatal exposures
and indicators of inflammation predict perinatal outcomes, child obesity, and child neurodevelopment. We will
also complete the complex task of biobanking extensive blood, urine, saliva and place samples on
approximately 1,000 individuals and contributing the broader ECHO consortium research agenda.
 The proposed study will add significant new information to our understanding of which environmental
influences may have causal influence on child health outcomes, and the timing and mechanisms of these
effects. This information will provide a much-needed empirical foundation to kn...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10475656
- **Project number:** 5UH3OD023349-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Claudia Buss
- **Activity code:** UH3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $2,437,800
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-21 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10475656

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10475656, Pre- and Postnatal Exposure Periods for Child Health: Common Risks and Shared Mechanisms (5UH3OD023349-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10475656. Licensed CC0.

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