About Us

PARADIGM is an international research collaboration formed to address an urgent and emerging public-health question: how do plastic-associated environmental exposures interact with human biology to influence atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease?

Micro- and nano-scale plastic particles and their associated chemicals are now pervasive in air, water, and food, leading to chronic human exposure through inhalation and ingestion. While plastics have traditionally been viewed as an environmental concern, growing evidence suggests they may also have biological consequences relevant to cardiovascular health. However, the field faces critical gaps—including inconsistent measurement approaches, limited human tissue resources, and uncertainty about causality and clinical relevance.

PARADIGM was created to close these gaps by bringing together complementary expertise across epidemiology, environmental health, vascular medicine, molecular biology, and translational science. The consortium is structured to integrate population-level observations with experimental and analytical approaches, ensuring that exposure-disease associations are interpreted within a rigorous biological framework.

A central feature of PARADIGM is its emphasis on measurement integrity and reproducibility. Because plastics are ubiquitous environmental contaminants, the network prioritizes standardized protocols, quality control, and harmonized data collection across sites. This foundation enables more reliable comparisons across studies, populations, and model systems.

PARADIGM is jointly coordinated across North America and Europe and is designed to function as a shared scientific resource. The consortium is committed to responsible data sharing, dissemination of best practices, and training of early-career investigators. By aligning discovery science with public-health relevance, PARADIGM aims to clarify whether plastic-associated exposures contribute meaningfully to atherosclerosis and to identify pathways that could ultimately inform prevention or mitigation strategies.