Mission: To understand the effect of arsenic (As) on immune system function in mothers and their infants.

Project 1 is studying mothers and infants enrolled in a pregnancy cohort study (The New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study). The scientists are interested in mother and infant exposure to arsenic via drinking water from a private well. Building on this parent study, Project 1 will also assess how individual exposure to arsenic in the first year of life, through drinking water and food, increases the risk of infection during pregnancy and subsequently the infant's first year of life. Project 1 will assess how individual variation in arsenic metabolism (e.g., inherent traits) and lifestyle factors (e.g., smoking) alters the effects of arsenic exposure.

Project 1 is partnering with the Survey Center at the University of New Hampshire to conduct telephone surveys with parents of infants enrolled in The New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study throughout their first year of life. The calls are made when the infants are 4, 8 and 12 months old and  parents are asked questions from a survey designed to assess whether or not the children have had any infections or illnesses, and the frequency and duration of the infection or illness. Other general questions are asked, including ones about diet (in collaboration with Project 2). In addition to the telephone surveys, Project 1 uses  information obtained from the parent study about maternal lifestyle, medical history (mother and infant) and maternal food history questionnaires to assess arsenic exposure and consider other relevant factors that may impact the types and frequency of infections that children may get in the first year of life. Samples  such as maternal blood, hair, nails, a drinking water sample from the home, and  infant cord blood and meconium provide further information about exposure to metals during the mother’s pregnancy, which may be linked to the risk of infection and illness during the infant’s first year of life.