Metals and Heart Disease in Different Communities
Official title: Exposure to Metal-Mixtures and Coronary Heart Disease Across Diverse Populations
Funded at New York University School of Medicine · NIH-11196717 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how exposure to different metals might affect heart health in various groups of people.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | New York University School of Medicine NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | September 24, 2024 |
| Project end | June 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $691,986 |
| NIH project number | 5R01ES035219-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11196717 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
This project focuses on understanding risk factors in diverse adult populations, including American Indian, Black American, and Bangladeshi individuals, who are 21 years or older.
✕Less likely to help
Patients already diagnosed with coronary heart disease may not directly benefit from this specific project, as it focuses on identifying risk factors rather than treatment.
What this research studies
Coronary heart disease is a major health concern worldwide, and we know that exposure to toxic metals like arsenic can be a risk factor. However, people are often exposed to many metals at once, and their combined effects on heart health are not well understood. This project will explore how mixtures of metals, and how our genes interact with these exposures, contribute to heart disease risk. Our goal is to identify specific combinations of metals and genetic factors that put certain groups at higher risk, especially within diverse populations.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help identify specific environmental and genetic risk factors for coronary heart disease, leading to better prevention strategies for at-risk populations.
How similar studies have gone: While individual metal exposures have been linked to heart disease, large-scale studies on metal mixtures and gene-metal interactions in diverse populations are largely new.
Where this research is happening
-
New York University School of Medicine
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Chen, Yu — New York University School of Medicine
- Study coordinator: Chen, Yu
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Pay-what-you-can cafes and heart health in people with high blood pressure and food insecurity
This project tests whether eating at pay-what-you-can cafes improves blood pressure and heart- disease related outcomes for hypertensive adults who face food insecurity.
-
Apolipoprotein Proteoforms and Heart Health
This grant aims to understand how different chemical changes to apolipoproteins relate to cholesterol, obesity, insulin resistance, and risk of heart disease in people.
-
Metal exposures and heart disease: how genes and mixtures shape risk
A large study from NYU aims to understand how exposure to arsenic and other metals, together with genetic factors, influence the risk of coronary heart disease in diverse adults.
-
How stress-linked gene changes may raise heart disease risk
This project looks at whether stress-related chemical changes on DNA in blood immune cells help explain higher heart disease risk in people exposed to chronic psychosocial stress.
-
Genetic clues to blood fats and heart disease progression
Researchers are studying how genetic differences affect blood lipid levels and heart disease risk so doctors can tailor prevention for people at different ages.
-
PFAS chemicals, blood lipoproteins, and coronary heart disease risk
Researchers will look at whether common environmental chemicals called PFAS are linked to specific blood lipoproteins and higher risk of coronary heart disease in adults.
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.