The National Institute of Health (NIH) recently funded
Michigan State University (MSU), the University of Michigan and Wayne State
University with $18.5 million to study how environmental factors affect Michigan
children’s health and development.
The amount of information that will result in spin off
studies and innovations from this study will be huge for the area, says Dele
Davies with MSU’s Department of Pediatrics and Human Development.
“This is part of the overall strategy to make sure MSU
can compete with other schools,” Davies says.
The schools will follow 1,000 children from birth to age 21 to
determine how their environment affects their health. The schools will start
finding study participants in 2009.
Davies says researchers will look at what causes health
problems the medical community doesn’t fully understand including autism,
obesity and asthma.
“We might be able to intervene to help the next
generation live better and live longer,” says Davies.
Source: Dele Davies, MSU
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
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