# Integrated Omics Analysis of Pain: Omics Data Generation Center

> **NIH NIH U54** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $1,522,766

## Abstract

SUMMARY 
Acute pain, usually triggered by tissue injury, such as trauma or surgery, can lead to long-­term persistent chronic 
pain, a debilitating condition that requires extensive treatment and pain management. Interestingly, the molecular 
basis of this transition from acute to chronic pain is poorly understood, and this lack of knowledge impedes the 
development of better treatment strategies for patients with chronic pain. Several recent studies have begun to 
explore underlying genetic and molecular signatures of the conversion to chronic pain, but clearly, additional 
efforts are needed to better understand the mechanisms and molecular signatures in a wider range of 
surgery and trauma patients. 
The goal of the NIH Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures (A2CPS) program is to determine the mechanisms that 
make some people susceptible and others resilient to the development of chronic pain. We propose an Omics 
Data Generation Center (ODGC) for the A2CPS Consortium as a collaborative effort of three academic 
institutions with complementary technical expertise, experience in large-­scale data generation projects, and 
established collaborations and interactions: 
 · Wake Forest University Health Sciences (WFUHS), 
 · The University of California at Davis (UCD), and 
 · Duke University School of Medicine (Duke). 
The ODGC will generate omics data for blood samples collected from study participants at three clinical 
assessments (0, 3, and 6 months after a surgical procedure or musculoskeletal trauma) for an integrated analysis 
to identify biomarker signatures that are predictive of the transition from acute to chronic pain, and help reveal 
the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms mediating this transition. 
We have assembled a team of scientists that will use cutting-­edge technologies to perform high-­throughput 
analyses in 1) proteomics (WFUHS and Duke), 2) metabolomics (WFUHS and UCD), 3) lipidomics (UCD), 
4) extracellular RNA (WFUHS), and 5) SNP genotyping (WFUHS). In addition, we propose to examine the 
epigenetics (DNA methylation) of monocytes collected from a subset of converters and non-­converters. 
The resulting data will be integrated with extensive clinical assessment data, in collaboration with the Data 
Integration and Resource Center and the Multisite Clinical Centers of the A2CPS Consortium.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10001491
- **Project number:** 5U54DA049113-02
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** TIMOTHY D HOWARD
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,522,766
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10001491

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10001491, Integrated Omics Analysis of Pain: Omics Data Generation Center (5U54DA049113-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10001491. Licensed CC0.

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