U24ES028507

Enriching the Rhode Island Child Health Study - Project Summary/Abstract

This U24 renewal is a cooperative agreement responsive to RFA-ES-22-001, "Maintaining and Enriching Environmental Epidemiology Cohorts to Support Scientific and Workforce Diversity." Our overarching goal is to sustain, enrich, and diversify resource infrastructure for the Rhode Island Children's Health Study (RICHS; Marsit, Stroud MPI: R24ES028507) by facilitating future longitudinal follow-up, accelerating data management and sharing, and diversifying the scientific workforce.

RICHS was developed to characterize the impact of the environment on newborn and early childhood health outcomes with a novel and unique focus on the mechanistic role of placenta molecular function in mediating the impact of the chemical, physical, social, and behavioral environment on infant/child health and disease. The cohort is comprised of 840 mother-infant pairs from the Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts region enrolled using a population-based recruitment strategy. RICHS offspring at the start of this project range in age from 8.8-13.8 years - a critical period for environmental influences on development.

Data and results from the cohort have made seminal contributions to elucidating (a) the fundamental molecular biology of the placenta, (b) the impact of environmental exposures on placental epigenetic and genomic regulation, (c) links between placental molecular variation and newborn growth and neurobehavioral outcomes, as well as (d) novel methods development. Resources/investigators from the RICHS cohort contributed to 75 publications (42 during the R24 period), 10 NIH grants including fellowship and career development awards for early career scientists, and >20 post/doctoral projects.

The proposed U24 infrastructure support will facilitate prospective, longitudinal assessments of novel child health and disease outcomes, postnatal environmental exposures, structural and social determinants of health, as well as continued collection of biospecimens into the RICHS biorepository. The U24 will also support enrichment of data management and broad sharing of cohort resources, with all activities aimed at providing opportunities for a diverse cadre of scientists across career stages to access data and biospecimens to develop novel research questions.

Specifically, the goals of this R24 infrastructure support project are to:
1. Support the infrastructure of a diverse workforce of the cohort.
2. Continue to obtain longitudinal data on mother-child pairs.
3. Broaden the diversity of RICHS by facilitating enrollment of new participants from complementary Rhode Island cohorts.
4. Refine and expand systems for broad sharing of cohort data and resources.
5. Increase opportunities for scholars from historically under-represented groups to engage with the RICHS cohort.
6. Work with the consortium in developing integrated measures and common strategies for data sharing and collaboration.

Ultimately, U24 infrastructure support will maximize NIEHS investment by increasing diversity of participants, workforce, and measures in this highly unique and productive cohort, accelerating discovery and catalyzing future transformative contributions to children's environmental health.

Emory University

TO FOSTER UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS IN THE HOPE THAT THESE STUDIES WILL LEAD TO: THE IDENTIFICATION OF AGENTS THAT POSE A HAZARD AND THREAT OF DISEASE, DISORDERS AND DEFECTS IN HUMANS, THE DEVELOPMENT OF EFFECTIVE PUBLIC HEALTH OR DISEASE PREVENTION STRATEGIES, THE OVERALL IMPROVEMENT OF HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS DUE TO ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS, THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGIES DESIGNED TO BETTER STUDY OR AMELIORATE THE EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS, AND THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF RESEARCH SCIENTISTS IN ALL AREAS OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH. SUPPORTED GRANT PROGRAMS FOCUS ON THE FOLLOWING AREAS: (1) UNDERSTANDING BIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS BY DETERMINING HOW CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL AGENTS CAUSE PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN MOLECULES, CELLS, TISSUES, AND ORGANS, AND BECOME MANIFESTED AS RESPIRATORY DISEASE, NEUROLOGICAL, BEHAVIORAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL ABNORMALITIES, CANCER, AND OTHER DISORDERS, (2) DETERMINING THE MECHANISMS OF TOXICITY OF UBIQUITOUS AGENTS LIKE METALS, NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS, PESTICIDES, AND MATERIALS SUCH AS NANOPARTICLES, AND NATURAL TOXIC SUBSTANCES, AND THEIR EFFECTS OF ON VARIOUS HUMAN ORGAN SYSTEMS, ON METABOLISM, ON THE ENDOCRINE AND IMMUNE SYSTEMS, AND ON OTHER BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS, (3) DEVELOPING AND INTEGRATING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT POTENTIALLY TOXIC AND HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS BY CONCENTRATING ON TOXICOLOGICAL RESEARCH, TESTING, TEST DEVELOPMENT, VALIDATION AND RISK ESTIMATION, (4) IDENTIFYING INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS AND GENETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY AND UNDERSTANDING BIOLOGIC MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THESE INTERACTIONS, INCLUDING THE STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON EPIGENOMICS AND TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION, (5) CONDUCTING ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH, INCLUDING IN AREAS OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND HEALTH DISPARITIES, THAT REQUIRES COMMUNITIES AS ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS IN ALL STAGES OF RESEARCH, DISSEMINATION, AND EVALUATION TO ADVANCE BOTH THE SCIENCE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRACTICAL MATERIALS FOR USE IN COMMUNITIES, WITH A FOCUS ON TRANSLATING RESEARCH FINDINGS INTO TOOLS, MATERIALS, AND RESOURCES THAT CAN BE USED TO PREVENT, REDUCE, OR ELIMINATE ADVERSE HEALTH OUTCOMES CAUSED BY ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES, (6) EXPANDING AND IMPROVING THE SBIR PROGRAM, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, (7) EXPANDING AND IMPROVING THE STTR PROGRAM TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO IN

93.113 - Environmental Health

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) [HHS - NIH]

Atlanta, Georgia 30322 United States

Single Zip Code

Maintaining and Enriching Environmental Epidemiology Cohorts to Support Scientific and Workforce Diversity (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (RFA-ES-22-001)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 245% from $393,223 to $1,356,067.