National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Role of Environmental Chemical Exposures in the Development of Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome (R21)
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), issued by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), encourages grant applications to understand the role of environmental chemical exposures in the development of obesity, type 2diabetes and/or metabolic syndrome. Applications must link an environmental exposure to the increased incidence of weight gain, type 2 diabetes and aspects of metabolic syndrome in animal models or human studies. While any exposure window is acceptable it is anticipated that the most sensitive time for exposures to affect the disease outcomes will be during development e.g., in utero and/or neonatal or early childhood. For human studies developmental exposures (in utero and early childhood) should be linked to early biomarkers of disease onset. Animal studies should focus on identifying new environmental chemicals that alter weight gain, insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance and altered lipid metabolism indicative of obesity, type 2 diabetes and/or metabolic syndrome.