# Researching Epigenetics, Weathering, Aging & Residential Disadvantage (REWARD)

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2020 · $615,553

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Both African Americans living in segregated socioeconomically disadvantaged urban neighborhoods and
resource-poor residents of rural areas experience high rates of premature mortality and a disproportionate
burden of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other adverse health conditions. Explaining how varied
experiences of material and social disadvantage become embodied and subsequently manifest in racial and
geographic health disparities is the key challenge for research, policy, and practice. While persistent social
disadvantage is known to shape health disparities, the biological mechanisms that underlie this process –
known as weathering – remain to be elucidated. The recent discovery of differential rates of biological aging
(measured using DNA methylation) across subpopulations facing early life disadvantage suggest that the
epigenome may play a key role in weathering. Epigenetic markers have also been linked with known
disparities in multiple chronic conditions. The Researching Epigenetics, Weathering, Aging & Residential
Disadvantage (REWARD) study will advance our understanding of DNA methylation as one epigenetic
mechanism linking social, economic, and geographic disadvantage with accelerated aging and phenotypes of
inflammation and cardio-metabolic diseases. Our goal is to determine how different dimensions of
disadvantage – including individual characteristics (e.g. racial identification, socioeconomic status, and
associated experiences of discrimination), and neighborhood-level contextual characteristics (e.g.
concentrated poverty, racial segregation, and rural isolation) – shape health disparities through epigenetic
mechanisms. We hypothesize that early-life and cumulative personal and contextual disadvantage predict DNA
methylation patterns, creating biological signatures of weathering that contribute to accelerated biological
aging, inflammation, and cardiometabolic disease in vulnerable populations. Few studies possess the temporal
range of follow-up, geographic diversity, and extremes in racial segregation and rural isolation needed to test
the hypothesis that individual and neighborhood-level disadvantage across the life course contribute to
biological signatures of adversity. REWARD fills these gaps using rich data from an ongoing population based
cohort in Wisconsin -- a state known for stark disparities including urban racial segregation and rural isolation.
Using the 850K Infinium EPIC Chip array, we will analyze whole blood DNA and serum from 1400 participants
in the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW), an ongoing, well-characterized, population-based cohort of
Wisconsin adults. The diverse team includes scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of
Medicine and Public Health and Department of Sociology, as well as a leading biological anthropologist from
Northwestern University and the UCLA-based geneticist and biostatistician who developed the Horvath
epigenetic clock. The REWARD Stu...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10017145
- **Project number:** 5R01AG061080-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Michal Engelman
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $615,553
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-15 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10017145

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10017145, Researching Epigenetics, Weathering, Aging & Residential Disadvantage (REWARD) (5R01AG061080-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10017145. Licensed CC0.

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