Healthy Brain and Child Development — pregnancy through age 10
10/24 Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium
Follows pregnant people and their children up to age 10 with brain scans, behavior checks, and biological samples to map normal development and how early exposures shape it.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Osu Center for Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Tulsa, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11140313 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you join, researchers will collect MRI and EEG brain scans, developmental and behavioral tests, questionnaires about stress and exposures, and biospecimens from pregnant people and their children across multiple visits from pregnancy through the child's tenth birthday. About 7,200 mother–infant pairs will be enrolled at 27 sites across the U.S., with data harmonized and pooled into a shared database for many researchers to use. The study focuses on how prenatal and early-life factors like maternal substance use, environmental toxins, maternal health, and family stress relate to brain and behavioral development. Participation may include in-person site visits, remote surveys, and sample collection, and data will be de-identified before wider sharing.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Pregnant people and families with infants or children up to 10 years old who can attend visits at participating U.S. sites and are willing to provide surveys and biological samples are ideal candidates.
Not a fit: People who are not pregnant, do not have children in the eligible age range, or cannot travel to participating sites or provide consent and samples would not benefit directly.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Could create a national blueprint of early brain development that helps spot risks sooner and guide prevention or early-intervention programs.
How similar studies have performed: Large projects such as the ABCD study have successfully built shared brain-development datasets, but this effort is novel for its focus on prenatal and early childhood periods and on environmental exposures.
Where this research is happening
Tulsa, United States
- Osu Center for Health Sciences — Tulsa, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Croff, Julie May — Osu Center for Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Croff, Julie May
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.