Project description
Risk factors for congenital heart defects
Congenital heart defects (CHD) are structural anomalies that are present at birth and impact the function of a baby’s heart. CHD has been linked to genetic and environmental factors like maternal diabetes and obesity, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Funded by the European Research Council, the FINNPEDHEART project is working under the hypothesis that maternal genetics and cardiovascular health contribute to the risk of giving birth to children with CHD. The project will retrospectively analyse data from Finish national health records to unveil important insights into the factors that influence early pregnancy cardiac development.
Objective
One in a hundred infants is born with a congenital heart defect (CHD). Both genetic and environmental risk factors, such as maternal diabetes and obesity, are known to cause CHD, however, little is known about the disease mechanisms behind these risks. CHD can occur as an element of a syndrome, in conjunction with other anomalies, or as an isolated defect. I propose that there is an etiologically distinct “environmental CHD” subgroup, where in addition to the child’s genes, maternal genetics and gene expression play a major role in disease development. Moreover, I propose that in these cases the genetic risk profile predisposes the woman for both having offspring with CHD and having early onset atherosclerotic disease.
My objective is to study how maternal genetics and maternal cardiovascular morbidity as an environmental risk contribute to the risk for having offspring with CHD. In addition, the multifactorial aetiology in terms of the presence of both risk factors, will be studied using a unique dataset available only in Finland. Three different substudies will be conducted: 1) Finnish national registers gathering health related information of all Finns from birth to death will be used to determine the presence of atherosclerosis and related traits, such as hypertension and coronary artery disease, in mothers who have offspring with CHD compared to those without (tot. N = 1 million). 2) Maternal genetic risk loci for having CHD in the offspring will be sought in the FinnGen study (tot. N = 0.5 million). 3) Maternal 1st trimester serum samples from pregnancies with and without CHD will be analysed to identify CHD associated biomarkers (tot. N = 3200).
The study results will provide important information on how the combination of maternal genetic and environmental risk factors contribute to cardiac developmental defects during early pregnancy and offer new insights for future research on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of cardiac development.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine cardiology cardiovascular diseases arteriosclerosis
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine endocrinology diabetes
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine obstetrics
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition obesity
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
00014 Helsinki
Finland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.