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NIH grant 1R01ES038825-01: Prenatal PFAS-Microplastics Mixtures and Early Neurodevelopment: multi-omics informed biological mechanisms
Institute: {'code': 'ES', 'abbreviation': 'NIEHS', 'name': 'National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences', 'admin_org_id': '12500022', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: Cassandra Lei Hendrix. Award: $715080.
Start: 2026-09-11T00:00:00.
PROJECT SUMMARY
Early neurodevelopment shapes lifelong health, yet environmental drivers remain poorly understood. Per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous, can cross biological barriers, and
may act synergistically because of their shared environmental sources and sorption of PFAS on MPs. However,
no human cohort has tested their joint effects during early pregnancy when the brain is most vulnerable. We will
establish a first-trimester pregnancy cohort in Hawaiʻi (n=300), leveraging existing biobanking and clinical
partnerships to quantify PFAS and MPs in maternal blood, mid-gestation ultrasound markers of fetal brain
development, and assess infant neurodevelopment, including neurological integrity, motor, language, and
cognitive development at 2, 6, and 12 months after birth. We will also generate untargeted metabolomics and
high-throughput proteomics across the placenta and cord blood to interrogate pathways at the maternal-
placental-fetal interface.
Aim 1 estimates component-specific and overall mixture effects of first-trimester PFAS-MP exposures on fetal
ultrasound markers and first-year neurodevelopment using modern mixture methods (Bayesian hierarchical
models with g-computation). Aim 2 identifies exposure-related proteomic and metabolic signatures across
pregnancy tissues. Aim 3 integrates exposures, omics, and clinical factors to develop biologically informed,
clinically interpretable risk profiles using multi-omics integration and latent-factor models. By focusing on a setting
with high MP burden and combining rigorous exposure assessment with mechanistic evaluation and advanced
analytics, this study will deliver the first human evidence on PFAS-MP co-exposure and early neurodevelopment,
reveal molecular pathways of vulnerability, and produce tools to identify infants who may be at higher risk of
impaired neurodevelopment. Findings can inform prenatal counseling, exposure-reduction strategies, and policy
actions for safer environments in Hawaiʻi, the US, and across the world.document fetched 2026-09-20 02:42