How infections and inflammation may pass heart disease and diabetes risk between parents and children
Inter-Generational Cardiometabolic Risk: Explore Underlying Immune Pathways
This project looks at whether infections and inflammation during pregnancy help explain how risk for diabetes and heart disease can be passed to children.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Johns Hopkins University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Baltimore, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11193941 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Researchers will follow pregnant people and their newborns, gathering medical histories and blood samples to look for past infections and inflammatory signals. They will measure immune markers in maternal and cord blood and check early signs of metabolism that can predict future diabetes or heart disease. The study will focus on families from communities with higher rates of obesity and diabetes to understand intergenerational patterns. The aim is to map early-life immune pathways that might explain how cardiometabolic risk amplifies across generations.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates would be pregnant people and their newborns, especially those from communities with high rates of obesity, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease.
Not a fit: People who are not pregnant, do not plan to have children, or who need immediate clinical treatment for their own diabetes or heart disease are unlikely to gain direct benefit from participating.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to ways to prevent or reduce future diabetes and heart disease by addressing infections or inflammation during pregnancy.
How similar studies have performed: Some prior studies have linked maternal inflammation to newborn immune changes and later metabolic risk, but applying this specifically to infection-driven intergenerational cardiometabolic risk is a relatively new area.
Where this research is happening
Baltimore, United States
- Johns Hopkins University — Baltimore, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wang, Guoying — Johns Hopkins University
- Study coordinator: Wang, Guoying
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.