HELIX - the Human Early LIfe eXposome
Research type
Research Study
Full title
HELIX. The Human Early-Life Exposome - novel tools for integrating early-life environmental exposures and child heatlh across Europe.
IRAS ID
138277
Contact name
R McEachan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust
Research summary
HELIX is a European collaborative project funded under the European Comission Exposome Programme.
Although exposure to enviromental hazards during pregnancy and in early life have been associated with impaired fetal growth and neurotoxic and immunotoxic effects on children, there is a lack of accurate assessment of enviromental exposures and their impact on health. HELIX aims to contribute to close this gap by obtaining robust exposure data for a broad range of chemical and physical exposures (called (’external exposome’)and measure molecular signatures (’internal eposome’). The Born in Bradford Project is one of 6 birth cohorts who will be participating in this research project. The BiB project will recruit 200 children aged 6-7 to the HELIX sub cohort study between March 2014 and March 2015: Parents will complete a questionnaire and children will undergo cognitive tests and will have their measurements (height and weigth, skinfolds, bioimpedence) taken, and urine and blood samples will be collected. This is referred to as the HELIX subcohort study within this ethics application.
Participants willing to take part in the subcohort study will also be asked to take part in a detailed biomarker measurement assessment during 1 week in spring/summer and 1 week in autumn/winter to collect mobility and physical activity information, exposure data as well as further samples (urine, buccal smear, hair and blood). It is aimed for to recruit 35 participants. This is referred to as the HELIX panel study within this ethics application.
Together with extensive data and samples already collected during pregnancy and at birth, BiB will contribute to a data pool of 1200 mother-child pairs to characterise how the external exposome impacts on the internal exposome. The integration of the chemical, physical and molecular environments will lead to major improvements in health risk and impact assessments, and help to improve preventive strategies for vulnerable populations.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/YH/0013
Date of REC Opinion
21 Feb 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion