# New Jersey ECHO

> **NIH NIH UG3** · RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $1,800,890

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Early environmental exposures are strongly implicated in the development of later diseases. The early life
microbiome provides a developmental context for understanding health and disease across the life course. In
the modern era, mothers and children routinely encounter microbiome perturbing exposures including cesarean
section, infant formula, and antibiotics during pregnancy and in the child's first year after birth. Compelling basic
science and epidemiological research from our group and others shows that perturbation of the pre-conception,
prenatal, and early childhood microbiome contributes to adverse health outcomes. These connections are
particularly strong for upper and lower airway health. Population-based studies document associations between
asthma and early antibiotic exposure, and children with asthma have distinct microbiome signatures from
unaffected children. Complementary mouse models show a causal association between perturbed microbiota
and airway disease. However, key knowledge gaps remain. First, existing studies lack diversity and are often
underpowered to evaluate the extent to which microbiome-perturbing exposures such as medication use,
cesarean section, and infant formula underlie racial/ethnic disparities in outcomes such as the higher prevalence
of asthma in Black and Hispanic children compared to White children. Second, few studies have examined the
microbiome across critical time windows (preconception, pregnancy, delivery, infancy, and early childhood).
ECHO provides a unique opportunity to address these gaps and study the developmental role of the early life
microbiome in later health in a large, diverse U.S. cohort. We will recruit 500 pregnant people and their resulting
offspring from Middlesex County, NJ, one of the most diverse counties in the U.S., into the national ECHO cohort.
Our proposed scientific focus is on the early life microbiome and exposure to microbiome-perturbing exposures
(cesarean section, infant formula, and medication use) in relation to upper and lower airway health. Our specific
aims are to: (1) Characterize social determinants and racial/ethnic disparities in common microbiome-perturbing
exposures during critical early life periods in the ECHO-wide cohort and evaluate associations with longitudinal
microbiome structures in mothers and children; (2) Estimate associations between microbiome-perturbing
exposures and child outcomes, with a focus on upper and lower airway health; (3) Recruit 500 pregnant
participants reflecting the unique diversity of Middlesex County, NJ; and (4) (Exploratory) Examine the extent to
which maternal microbiome perturbation in the 12 months before conception is associated with adverse upper
and lower airway outcomes in children. The addition of NJ contributes unique diversity to the ECHO consortium.
In turn, our team's ECHO-wide research at a national scale will yield knowledge that informs clinical and public
health interventions that pr...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10908664
- **Project number:** 5UG3OD035527-02
- **Recipient organization:** RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** MARTIN J BLASER
- **Activity code:** UG3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,800,890
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10908664

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10908664, New Jersey ECHO (5UG3OD035527-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10908664. Licensed CC0.

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