Spinal fluid and blood markers tied to post‑COVID mental health during pregnancy
Official title: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and peripheral markers of the neuropsychiatric sequelae of COVID-19: The Generation C-SF pregnancy study
Funded at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai · NIH-11257659 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at signs in spinal fluid and blood to better understand mental health and thinking problems after COVID‑19 in pregnant and recently postpartum women.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | April 1, 2022 |
| Project end | January 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $844,894 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH127315-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11257659 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are pregnant or recently postpartum women in the Generation C cohort, especially those with prior SARS‑CoV‑2 infection or new mood, anxiety, or cognitive symptoms.
✕Less likely to help
People who are not pregnant or postpartum, who are unwilling to provide blood or spinal fluid samples, or who have never been exposed to SARS‑CoV‑2 may not gain direct benefit from this project.
What this research studies
You would join a large pregnancy group already followed at Mount Sinai to see how past COVID‑19 links to mood, anxiety, attention, and memory after giving birth. The team will collect blood and, in a smaller group, spinal fluid samples to measure inflammation and autoantibodies that might affect the brain. They will compare women who had COVID‑19 during pregnancy with those who did not and follow mental health and thinking over time. The work aims to connect the biological findings with real symptoms so results could point to who is at higher risk and why.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could reveal biological signs that help predict or guide care for post‑COVID mental health and cognitive problems in pregnant and postpartum women.
How similar studies have gone: Other research has linked COVID‑19 to higher rates of psychiatric and cognitive symptoms and to inflammatory blood markers, but studying spinal fluid markers specifically in pregnant and postpartum women is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Perez Rodriguez, Maria de Las Mercedes — Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Study coordinator: Perez Rodriguez, Maria de Las Mercedes
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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.