Notice to Announce NHLBI's Participation in the Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource (HHEAR) Program

HHEAR is a program aimed at advancing our understanding of how the environment influences human health over a lifetime. It is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), as well as an NIH-sponsored research program called Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO). HHEAR provides researchers access to high-quality, exposure-assessment services, including state-of-the art laboratory analysis of biological and environmental samples and statistical analysis. It also provides expertise in exposure analysis, study design and data analysis and interpretation. Investigators can access these services at no cost. Visit the HHEAR website for information about the HHEAR program.

Availability of HHEAR program services varies based on which Institute or Center is funding an investigator’s exiting study existing study. The information below is specific to currently funded NHLBI extramural researchers.

You are eligible for HHEAR if you meet the following criteria:

1. You have an ongoing or completed epidemiological or clinical study (parent study) with human biological and/or environmental samples linked to health outcome data. Additionally:
   • You want to add environmental exposure data to your parent study or need more extensive analysis of exposures to support a scientific hypothesis related to heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) conditions.
   • Although your parent study may be ongoing, you have collected all the data and biological and environmental samples that you will provide to HHEAR for the proposed project prior to submitting your final application.
2. Your parent study is currently funded at least in part by NHLBI extramural funds. Studies funded by NHLBI extramural funds are eligible for targeted and untargeted analysis of only biological samples.
3. You are eligible to apply for an NIH grant at your home institution, and you have the authority to commit to documentation, such as the Material Transfer Agreement, Data Submission Agreement, and Data Sharing Plan.
4. You agree to share your experimental design details and supporting data, including phenotypic data at the individual level, needed to achieve the aim(s) of your proposal.

General eligibility information for HHEAR project support

The NHLBI requires that current NHLBI-funded studies that have biological samples be utilized for targeted and untargeted analysis. Applicants should demonstrate that their study either expands to include an assessment and impact of environmental exposures or that it leverages existing datasets to address these scientific goals. Ultimately, the purpose of HHEAR analyses for NHLBI-funded studies is to improve our knowledge of the comprehensive effects of environmental exposures on human health—particularly heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) conditions—throughout the life course.

Research topics of interest to the NHLBI include, but are not limited to:

• Leveraging well-phenotyped banked biospecimens from cohort studies— e.g., MESA, ABCD —to understand the contribution of environmental factors in the development of heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) diseases and disorders
• Delineating gene x environment interactions that leverage the resources within TOPMed and through the incorporation of transcriptomic/proteomic/metabolomic measures of environmental exposure
• Understanding the contribution of indoor air quality and/or parental cigarette smoking and their association with exacerbations in asthma, viral lower respiratory tract infections in infancy, cystic fibrosis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and sleep apnea
• Understanding the contribution of environmental exposure and gene x environment interaction in cardiovascular disease (CVD), coronary heart disease (CHD), asthma, COPD, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), sarcoidosis, and sleep apnea
• Understanding the contribution of environmental exposures on CHD and childhood obesity
• Quantifying specific nutritional biomarkers and their interactions with environmental toxicants in relationship to cardiovascular health and disease
• Elucidating the environmental exposure in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) using banked biospecimens from cohorts such as the NHLBI- and NCI-supported National MDS Study
• Evaluating the influence of environmental toxicants on red blood cell product storage characteristics as measured through RBC proteomics and metabolomics, and, secondarily, on transfusion safety and efficacy
• Proposing to use biospecimens collected from birth through early adulthood to assess environmental influences on HLBS health and disease throughout the lifetime
• Understanding the contribution of environmental exposures to HLBS health and disease or resilience throughout a woman's life course (including pregnancy and postpartum) and in women of different races/ethnicities/origins/heritage groups
• Examining sex differences in the pathobiology and response to environmental exposures contributing to differential risks to HLBS diseases and disorders in men and women
• Evaluating the influence of environmental toxicants and pollutants on the etiology and trajectory of pediatric HLBS risks and pathobiology.

General information about the HHEAR program research priorities

For studies currently being funded by the NHLBI extramural program, the NHLBI is supporting HHEAR services for human biological samples such as blood, serum, or urine. Samples must exist in hand and be ready to ship, with accurate counts. All samples must be linked to available health outcome data. A detailed list of human biological samples and analyses can be found under the Exposure/Preferred Biomarker columns.

Application deadlines will be set approximately six times per year, and submissions will be considered on a rolling basis. If you miss an application deadline, your submission will be considered in the next round.

Upcoming deadlines

Currently funded NHLBI extramural investigators should submit applications for HHEAR services by following the process detailed on our How to Apply page.

Several helpful documents are available to guide you through the multistep process.  Those include agreements you will be asked to sign once your project is approved for HHEAR services.

The application process for HHEAR services involves multiple steps that take about seven months to complete—from submission of the initial application to the final decision.

The post-approval process includes activities you must do, such as the submitting regulatory approval documents and supporting data and samples, as well as activities HHEAR must do, such as laboratory assay analyses and data and statistical analyses.

Learn more about the following policies:

• HHEAR Conflict of Interest (PDF, 1.47 MB)
• HHEAR Policies for Access to Services (PDF, 529 KB)
• HHEAR Publication Policy (PDF, 734 KB)

The NHLBI’s Notice to announce Participation in the Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource (HHEAR) Program can be found online. Questions about the NHLBI’s participation in the HHEAR Program that are not answered in the announcement, on this webpage, or on the website for the HHEAR project may be directed to:

Michelle Olive, PhD
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Phone 301-443-7933
Email: olivem@mail.nih.gov