Traffic pollution during pregnancy and children's brain development
Prenatal Traffic-Related Air Pollutants, Placental Epitranscriptomics, and Child Cognition
The team is seeing if breathing traffic pollution while pregnant changes tiny chemical tags on the placenta's RNA and links to children's thinking and attention.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Columbia University Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11471095 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you join this work during pregnancy, researchers would measure traffic pollution near where you live during pregnancy and collect your placenta at birth. They will test the placenta for m6A RNA marks (small chemical tags that affect how genes are used) and compare those results with children's thinking and attention tests at ages like 3 and 5. The team combines environmental exposure data, lab analysis of placentas, and developmental follow‑up visits to make connections between prenatal exposure and later child cognition. This is observational research using biological samples and developmental testing rather than giving any treatments.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are pregnant people willing to share address information during pregnancy, allow collection of the placenta at birth, and have their child attend follow‑up developmental visits.
Not a fit: People who are not pregnant, cannot provide a placenta sample, or are seeking immediate clinical treatment are unlikely to gain direct benefit from this observational study.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could reveal placental biological signs that explain how traffic pollution affects brain development and point to ways to prevent or reduce harm to children.
How similar studies have performed: Prior human and animal studies have linked traffic pollution to poorer child neurodevelopment, but using placental m6A epitranscriptomics to explain that link is a novel and largely untested approach.
Where this research is happening
New York, United States
- Columbia University Health Sciences — New York, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Herbstman, Julie Beth — Columbia University Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Herbstman, Julie Beth
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.