MSU, the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Henry Ford Health System, the Michigan Department of Community Health, University of Michigan and Wayne State University, as well as the individual health departments of the five counties, form the Michigan Alliance for the study. Collectively, the groups have secured more than $75 million in funding for the research by the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Nigel Paneth, an MSU epidemiology and pediatrics professor and the study’s principal investigator, said pregnant women will be recruited to study children’s development and how the environment can impact them.

“We’re learning about what went on very early in life that might explain how someone has the disease and who does not,” Paneth said. “There is a lot of emphasis on the environment — household environment. We will measure the air, water supply and soil around the house.”

Bob Brown, an MSU associate director of MSU outreach and engagement partnerships, said the recruitment process involves finding “trusted voices,” such as doctors, nurses and those in faith-based organizations, to take information about the benefits of the study and disseminate it throughout the community.

“It’s all on the ground. You’re doing work directly within the community with those who live in the community, so it’s face to face,” Brown said. “You’re building off of relationships — you definitely don’t want to do this from afar.”

Steve Lovejoy, an associate director for MSU Extension programs, said although previous health studies found environmental problems caused ailments, this study has the potential to uncover more.

“Parents can make changes in the household,” Lovejoy said. “Like lead paints, we know what the effect of those are, but there are others out there that we may just not know about.”

The vast amount of data about children that will be collected is massive enough for the health study to be the largest undertaken in the country,

With about 40 million units of biological material held within two central storage locations, Paneth said the study has the potential to change the lives of generations.

“Virtually everything that can happen with children we’ll be taking a look at,” Paneth said. “This is an investment in trying to figure out what causes particular ailments so that later generations of kids will benefit.”

Paneth stressed that prevention of a number of diseases, not a cure, is the main goal.

“For example, we are still very much in the dark with autism,” Paneth said. “It’s about understanding the cause. If we begin to research the background, we’ll be able to find out how to prevent (it).”