Texas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention
Comp A: Texas BD-STEPS III Core
This project will collect health and pregnancy information from Texas families to learn which parental and infant factors are linked to birth defects.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Houston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11136814 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
The Texas center will add local families to a national birth defects effort by using the Texas Birth Defects Registry and partnerships with UTHealth and Baylor. Researchers will contact parents, review medical records, and may ask about pregnancy exposures, health history, and demographic information. They will include diverse communities, especially Mexican American families, to make findings more representative. Data will be combined with other sites to look for patterns that could point to prevention strategies.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are parents or caregivers of babies born with birth defects in Texas, and pregnant people in the region who can share medical histories and pregnancy exposure information.
Not a fit: People who live outside the Texas recruitment area or whose conditions are unrelated to birth defects are unlikely to see direct benefit from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could help identify causes and prevention strategies to lower birth defect rates in future pregnancies.
How similar studies have performed: Previous national efforts like the National Birth Defects Prevention Study and earlier BD-STEPS sites have successfully linked exposures and parental factors to some birth defect risks, and this project builds on that work.
Where this research is happening
Houston, United States
- University of Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston — Houston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Agopian, A.j. — University of Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston
- Study coordinator: Agopian, A.j.
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.