Using machine learning to improve understanding of environmental impacts on child development
Official title: Machine Learning remedies to unmeasured confounding biases in environmental mixture studies
Funded at Columbia University Health Sciences · NIH-10951232 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This study is looking at how exposure to metals in the environment might impact the development of children, specifically focusing on mothers and their babies in Bangladesh, and it aims to create tools that will help other researchers understand these effects better.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Columbia University Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | September 6, 2024 |
| Project end | August 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2024 |
| Award (this year) | $218,862 |
| NIH project number | 1R21ES036704-01 |
| Project ID | NIH-10951232 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates for this research are children aged 0-11 years, particularly those from Bangladeshi backgrounds or exposed to environmental pollutants.
✕Less likely to help
Patients who are not children or those not exposed to relevant environmental factors may not benefit from this research.
What this research studies
This research aims to enhance our understanding of how environmental factors, particularly metal exposures, affect child development by addressing biases in existing studies. It will develop new analytical methods to detect and quantify the effects of unmeasured confounding variables that may skew results. The research will focus on a birth cohort of Bangladeshi mother-infant pairs, analyzing how various environmental mixtures influence developmental outcomes. Additionally, user-friendly software will be created to help other researchers apply these methods in their own studies.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this research could lead to better policies and interventions that protect children's health from harmful environmental exposures.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research has shown that addressing unmeasured confounding can significantly improve the validity of epidemiological studies, suggesting that this approach has potential for success.
Where this research is happening
-
Columbia University Health Sciences
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Valeri, Linda — Columbia University Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Valeri, Linda
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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.