The University of Southern California has received an NIEHS PFAS grant totaling USD 1,256,897 in first-year funding through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, supporting a translational research program examining per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and their relationship to metabolic diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease. The NIH R35 award, designated 1R35ES035051-01A1, was issued on April 10, 2026, with a project end date of March 31, 2034, and is led by principal investigator Vaia Lida Chatzi in the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at USC.
The University of Southern California environmental health grant draws on an R35 mechanism, which the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences uses to support established investigators with flexible, longer-horizon research programs rather than narrowly scoped project-specific aims. The first-year award comprises USD 771,830 in direct costs and USD 485,067 in indirect costs, with the full project period spanning eight years. The PFAS research funding 2026 commitment reflects NIEHS prioritization of environmental contaminant research at scale, particularly as regulatory and public health attention to PFAS compounds has intensified across federal agencies.
The program integrates large-scale epidemiology, laboratory research, data science, and community engagement. It will analyze data from more than 50,000 participants across 18 cohorts, alongside in vitro studies using advanced liver models and single-cell sequencing to investigate how PFAS disrupt metabolic pathways.