Current Projects
The following is a brief summary of current Center for Asthma Research investigator 2022 funding focused on asthma and allergic diseases.
In addition to a robustly funded translational program, our trainees and junior investigators have been highly successful with four NIH mentored career investigator K awards, two T32 awards, and four OIF awards.
Our program alumni are faculty and leaders across the United States.
Topic | PI(s) | Funding Source | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRECISE | Castro, Bacharier | NIH | R01 | Precision biologic interventions for severe exacerbation prone asthma clinical center |
| Stress, Antioxidants, and Asthma | Carroll, Wright, Moore | NIH | R01 | Maternal traumatic stress, oxidative stress, antioxidant exposures, and child asthma and lung function |
| RSV and Respiratory Morbidity in Children w/ Down-Syndrome | Wu, Dupont | NIH | R01 | The effectiveness of RSV immunoprophylaxis on the short- and long-term respiratory morbidity in children with Down syndrome |
| T-Cell Metabolism in Asthma | Newcomb, Rathmell | NIH | R01 | Test candidate targets to suppress glutamine metabolism in animal models and patient samples |
| Androgen Signaling in Allergic Airway Inflammation | Newcomb | NIH | R01 | Develop asthma therapeutics for diseases w/increased IL-33 |
| GLP-1R Signaling in Allergic Inflammation | Peebles, Niswender | NIH | R01 | GLP-1R signaling as a negative regulator of early innate and adaptive immune responses. |
| LMA Use in Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis and Influenza Risk | Hartert, Braciale | NIH | R01 | A study of leukotriene modifying agents in the prevention of excess morbidity and mortality from influenza |
| PGI2 Augments Treg Function | Peebles | NIH | R01 | A study to understand the host's inability to signal through the prostaglandin (PG)I2 receptor impedes immune tolerance and demonstrate that treatment with PGI2 analogs promotes tolerance |
| Azithromycin After Severe RSV Brochiolitis | Beigelman, Bacharier, Srinivasan | NIH | R01 | Randomized controlled trial of azithromycin to prevent recurrent wheezing following severe RSV bronchiolitis |
| E-cigarette Use During Pregnancy | Wu | NIH | R21 | Impact of e-cigarette use during pregnancy on newborn metabolic profile and perinatal health outcomes |
| Elucidating the role of nasopharyngeal microbiome in Respiratory Syncytial Virus associated diseases in children | Das, Hartert | NIH | R21 | A study capitalizing upon an in-place birth cohort specifically designed to understand the role of viral infection and the microbiome on childhood respiratory disease morbidity |
| The airway fungome and asthma | Rosas-Salazar, Das, Hartert | NIH | R21 | A study capitalizing upon an in-place birth cohort to delineate the role of the fungome in childhood asthma development |
| Topic | PI(s) | Funding Source | Type | Description |
Identifying asthma phenotypes and endotypes to develop targeted treatment and prevention strategies for childhood asthma | Hartert and Bacharier | NIH | UG3 | Continuation of INSPIRE cohort under collaboration with the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program. |
| Delineating the severity-dependent and age-dependent effects of RSV infection on asthma risk | Hartert and Osmundson | NIH | UG3 | Continuation of CANOE cohort under collaboration with the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program |
| RSV and Asthma: Viral and Host Factors in Asthma Development | Peebles, Hartert | NIH | U19 | The proposed investigations of host-viral interactions leading to childhood asthma development uses the model of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in early life to understand the development of chronic respiratory morbidity and test intervention strategies to prevent severe RSV infection and asthma |
| RSV and Asthma: Defining Host and Exposure Variation on Disease Development | Hartert | NIH | U19 | The overarching objectives are: 1) To determine whether the age of first infant RSV infection is associated with risk of subsequent incident recurrent wheeze and asthma 2) To delineate the longitudinal effects of RSV on airway epithelial cell differentiation and metabolism throughout infancy and childhood 3) To evaluate host gene infant RSV infection interactions and RSV-dependent NAEC DNAm longitudinally to identify changes and temporal stability of RSV-dependent DNAm marks and their association with recurrent wheeze and asthma. |
| Mechanisms of Dietary Citrulline in RSV Infection Severity | Peebles | NIH | U19 | To determine RSV-induced type 2 immune responses and whether they are inhibited by dietary citrulline supplementation during gestation and early life in a murine model of RSV infection |
The Clinical Ascertainment, Biospecimen Acquisition, Data Management and Analysis Research Core | Hartert | NIH | U19 | This Core facilitates and oversees longitudinal follow-up of the established INSPIRE cohort and the recruitment, enrollment, and longitudinal follow-up of the new CANOE-VU cohort. It supports the collection and management of key biospecimens and data from both cohorts for U19 Projects 1 and 2 |
| RSV and Asthma: Data Management and Analysis Research Core | Gebretsadik | NIH | U19 | This Core provides essential services in data management, analytic support, and conducting and overseeing biostatistical analyses for the U19 Projects. This Core has an excellent record of managing and analyzing complex human and animal sample data, employs state-of-the-art biostatistical methodologies and rigorous statistical analyses |
| Human Epidemiology and Response to SARS-CoV-2 (HEROS) study | Hartert, Brunwasser, Gebretsadik, Dupont | NIH | U19 | 12-city study of incidence, transmission and nasal gene expression patterns of SARS-CoV-2 in households with children and among individuals with asthma and atopic conditions |
| ECHO-CREW Asthma Consortium | Gern, Hartert | NIH | UH3 | Children's Respiratory and Environmental Workgroup (CREW) consortium for the INSPIRE and CANOE cohorts |
| GATA-3 | Cahill, Bernard, Dupont, Peebles, Wu | NIH | U01 | Randomized controlled trial of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist treatment in adult, obesity-related, symptomatic asthma |
| Merit Award | Peebles | VA | I01 | PGI2 inhibition of pulmonary innate allergic immune responses |
| Developmental Impact of NICU Exposures (DINE) | Aschner, Strousstrup, Teitelbaum, Bacharier | NIH | UH3 | Multi-site cohort will clarify the role of potentially avoidable NICU-based phthalate exposure on high-prevelance clinical outcomes |
| PATHWAYS | Karr, Bush, Lewinn, Mason, Sathyanarayana, Moore | NIH | UH3 | An integrated model of chemical and social exposures, biological mechanisms, and sex-specific effects on neurodevelopment and respiratory outcomes |
Systems Biology of Early Atopy (SUNBEAM) | Bacharier, Hartert | NIH | A study to identify prenatal and early childhood markers of high risk for food allergy and atopic dermatitis, or eczema, as well as biological pathways that lead to these conditions |
| Topic | PI (sponsor) | Funding Source | Type | Description |
| MOTHER SEED | Rosas-Salazar, Hartert | NIH | K23 | Early-life nasal colonization with Lactobacillus, development of local immune response and later onset of recurrent wheeze, childhood asthma, and allergic rhinitis |
| Multiomics Endotypes of Allergy and Asthma | Turi, Hartert | NIH | K01 | Identification of early metabolomic and immune endotypes of allergy and asthma: an integrated multiomics approach |
| Molecular Pathways in Childhood Asthma | Snyder, Hartert | NIH | KL2 | Identifying molecular pathways in childhood asthma pathogenesis by integrating newborn metabolic profiles and GWAS data |
| PGI2 Restrains Immunopathogenesis in Hypertension | Norlander, Peebles | NIH | K99/00 | Determine mechanisms by which PGI2 restrains immune cell function in hypertension |
| Methods for Platelet Assessment in Asthma | Cahill, Peebles | NIH | OIF U19 | Development of a method to assess the role and function of platelets in asthma control |
| New analytic approach for inferring DNA methylation regions in high-dimensional longitudinal DNAm data | McKennan, Hartert | NIH | OIF U19 | New analytic approach for inferring DNA methylation regions in high-dimensional longitudinal DNAm data |
| Airway microbiome in childhood asthma development | Rosas-Salazar, Hartert | NIH | OIF U19 | Study of the association of the nasal airway microbiome in the development of recurrent wheeze and asthma |
| Newborn screening metabolites and childhood disease | Snyder, Hartert | NIH | OIF UH3 | ECHO-wide study of the association of newborn metabolites with common childhood diseases |
| Topic | PI(s) | Funding Source | Type | Description |
| Audi Cy Pres Award | Hartert and Vandenbergh | Pre-, peri-, and postnatal fossil fuel environmental exposures and association with adverse maternal and child health outcomes in urban and rural Tennessee and assessing the health impact of transition to fossil fuel vehicles. | ||
| Meta-analytic Techniques: RSV and Asthma | Hartert, Brunwasser, Ortiz | WHO, BMGF | N/A | Methodological considerations for studies to measure the association between RSV LRTI and wheeze/asthma |
| Gene by RSV Interaction and Asthma | Hartert | SNFS | UG3 | The contribution of human genetic variation and RSV infection to asthma susceptibility |
| American Lung Association (ALA) | Bacharier, Cahill | ALA | U01 | A Lung Health Cohort study to understand ideal respiratory health and the key risk factors and biomarkers associated with impaired lung health |
Professional organizations
- American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAI)
- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI)
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- American Public Health Association (APHA)
- American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI)
- American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
- American Statistical Association (ASA)
- American Thoracic Society (ATS)
- Association of American Physicians (AAP)
- Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS)
- Collegium Internationale Allergologicum (CIA)
- International Biometrics Society (IBS)
- Metabolomics Society
- Pediatric Academic Societies
- Postpartum Support International (PSI)
- Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER)
- Society for Prevention Research (SPR)
- Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM)
- The International Marcé Society