How a mother's weight and gut health before pregnancy affect baby brain and emotions
Prenatal maternal obesity and neurodevelopment: The mediating role of the microbiome and metabolome
This work looks at whether a mother's weight and gut bacteria before and during pregnancy change body chemicals that can influence her baby's brain and emotional development.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Duke University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Durham, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11314497 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you take part, researchers will collect stool and blood samples from you during pregnancy to measure gut microbes and metabolites, especially in tryptophan and tyrosine pathways. They will perform fetal and infant MRI scans and follow your child's emotional behavior with standardized tests through the first 24 months. The team will connect patterns in the mother's microbiome and metabolites to brain measures and emotional regulation in the child. Visits occur multiple times across pregnancy and during infant follow-up.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Pregnant people who were overweight or obese before pregnancy and who can attend repeated visits at Duke, provide biological samples, and bring their child for MRI and follow-up through 24 months are ideal candidates.
Not a fit: People who are not pregnant, who are unwilling to provide samples or undergo MRI, or who cannot attend follow-up visits are not eligible and are unlikely to benefit from participation.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the findings could point to ways to lower the risk of childhood emotional and mental-health problems by addressing maternal weight, diet, or gut microbiome during pregnancy.
How similar studies have performed: Prior human studies show links between maternal obesity and child emotional symptoms and animal studies support microbiome-metabolite effects on brain development, but this longitudinal combination of maternal microbiome/metabolome with fetal/infant MRI and behavioral follow-up is largely novel in humans.
Where this research is happening
Durham, United States
- Duke University — Durham, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Posner, Jonathan E — Duke University
- Study coordinator: Posner, Jonathan E
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.