R01MD017405
Project Grant
Overview
Grant Description
Addressing the Biology of Health Disparities by Targeting Geographical Ancestry-Driven Variants of Immunity
Among ethnic groups in the US, African Americans continue to display the lowest life expectancy and highest overall rates of cancer deaths (including colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers), infant mortality, asthma, and cardiometabolic diseases (including heart disease, hypertension, and obesity).
Complex diseases and environmental insults all invoke and/or subvert host inflammation, with individual immune and variable responses to therapeutic agents being dictated in part by genetic variants. Precision diagnoses and prognoses of individual patient responses rely on assessing known disease and immune markers before, during, and/or after treatment.
This proposal will interrogate the functional effects and druggability of understudied gene variants related to immune and drug response within the genome of individuals of African ancestry (AAs). Immune gene variants most common among AAs and predicted to be druggable will be engineered into cell lines of different geographical ancestry and evaluated for functional effects in vitro and/or in vivo. Additionally, these variants will be modeled in silico to predict structural changes to the wild type proteins and possible variant-drug interactions.
Novel assays to screen for compounds with therapeutic potential will be developed and used for screening. Lead compound candidates will then be validated, optimized, and tested in vitro and/or in vivo.
This project has the potential to:
1) Establish ancestry-related host immunity as a contributing biological parameter of complex disease disparities.
2) Fill in critical knowledge gaps by identifying novel players and mechanisms of inflammation and their role in complex disease.
3) Possibly lead to the development of effective therapies to address health disparities.
Among ethnic groups in the US, African Americans continue to display the lowest life expectancy and highest overall rates of cancer deaths (including colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers), infant mortality, asthma, and cardiometabolic diseases (including heart disease, hypertension, and obesity).
Complex diseases and environmental insults all invoke and/or subvert host inflammation, with individual immune and variable responses to therapeutic agents being dictated in part by genetic variants. Precision diagnoses and prognoses of individual patient responses rely on assessing known disease and immune markers before, during, and/or after treatment.
This proposal will interrogate the functional effects and druggability of understudied gene variants related to immune and drug response within the genome of individuals of African ancestry (AAs). Immune gene variants most common among AAs and predicted to be druggable will be engineered into cell lines of different geographical ancestry and evaluated for functional effects in vitro and/or in vivo. Additionally, these variants will be modeled in silico to predict structural changes to the wild type proteins and possible variant-drug interactions.
Novel assays to screen for compounds with therapeutic potential will be developed and used for screening. Lead compound candidates will then be validated, optimized, and tested in vitro and/or in vivo.
This project has the potential to:
1) Establish ancestry-related host immunity as a contributing biological parameter of complex disease disparities.
2) Fill in critical knowledge gaps by identifying novel players and mechanisms of inflammation and their role in complex disease.
3) Possibly lead to the development of effective therapies to address health disparities.
Awardee
Funding Goals
NOT APPLICABLE
Grant Program (CFDA)
Place of Performance
Atlanta,
Georgia
303101458
United States
Geographic Scope
Single Zip Code
Related Opportunity
Analysis Notes
Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 383% from $702,174 to $3,391,892.
The Morehouse School Of Medicine was awarded
Precision Targeting of Immune Gene Variants Addressing Health Disparities
Project Grant R01MD017405
worth $3,391,892
from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in September 2021 with work to be completed primarily in Atlanta Georgia United States.
The grant
has a duration of 4 years 8 months and
was awarded through assistance program 93.310 Trans-NIH Research Support.
The Project Grant was awarded through grant opportunity NIH Directors Transformative Research Awards (R01 Clinical Trial Optional).
Status
(Ongoing)
Last Modified 7/3/25
Period of Performance
9/20/21
Start Date
5/31/26
End Date
Funding Split
$3.4M
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$3.4M
Total Obligated
Activity Timeline
Transaction History
Modifications to R01MD017405
Additional Detail
Award ID FAIN
R01MD017405
SAI Number
R01MD017405-2963155479
Award ID URI
SAI UNAVAILABLE
Awardee Classifications
Private Institution Of Higher Education
Awarding Office
75NE00 NIH National Insitute on Minority Health and Healh Disparities
Funding Office
75NA00 NIH OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
Awardee UEI
X5S7PNXMJMC7
Awardee CAGE
0CWL6
Performance District
GA-05
Senators
Jon Ossoff
Raphael Warnock
Raphael Warnock
Budget Funding
| Federal Account | Budget Subfunction | Object Class | Total | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services (075-0846) | Health research and training | Grants, subsidies, and contributions (41.0) | $1,356,627 | 100% |
Modified: 7/3/25