How prenatal disaster stress may shape children's behavior and addiction risk
Official title: Epigenetic susceptibility of behavioral and addictive disorders during pre/pubescence after natural disaster exposures in-utero
Funded at Queens College · NIH-11128803 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will look at whether stress during pregnancy from natural disasters changes placental and stress-system biology in children and links to fear, anxiety, impulse problems, or later addiction risk.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Queens College NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Flushing, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2023 |
| Project end | June 30, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $975,753 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DA057310-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11128803 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are families who experienced significant maternal stress during pregnancy—for example from a natural disaster—and whose children are being followed from birth into childhood and early adolescence.
✕Less likely to help
People without prenatal exposure to major stressors or those not willing to attend follow-up visits are unlikely to directly benefit from this project.
What this research studies
If you or your child join, researchers will use an existing long-term group of families who were followed from pregnancy through childhood to connect what happened in the womb to later behavior. They will analyze placental molecular markers (including epigenetic signatures and chromatin openness) and measures of the child's stress system and immune signals. Children will have behavioral and physiological tests during early childhood and into the pre/early-teen years to see patterns tied to prenatal disaster-related stress. The team combines these lab measures with detailed behavior questionnaires and clinical interviews to find markers that relate to fear, anxiety, emotion regulation, and impulsive behaviors.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could identify biological markers at birth that help predict which children are at higher risk for anxiety, behavior problems, or addiction risk so they can get earlier support.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies, including this team's earlier work, have linked prenatal stress to child behavior and have found placental epigenetic changes, but using placental molecular signatures to predict pre/pubertal addiction risk is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
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Queens College
Flushing, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Nomura, Yoko — Queens College
- Study coordinator: Nomura, Yoko
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.