# Emory Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences

> **NIH NIH U54** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $1,492,185

## Abstract

The overarching goal of the Emory SCORE is to advance the quality of women's health research by leveraging
the rich, collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment at Emory University to grow NIH and other
extramurally funded research in women's health. The long-term vision is to develop a program at Emory that
serves as a regional hub for studying the influence of biological sex on the outcomes of infectious diseases
and for promoting the normalization of sex as a biological variable in research with the goal of improving
women's health. These goals will be met through a) the implementation of 3 cross-cutting Research Projects
employing the “HIV-host pathogen interaction” as a model for probing the influence of sex on the pathology
and pathogenesis of infectious diseases; b) the development of a Leadership Administrative Core (LAC); c)
the establishment of a Career Enhancement Core (CEC) to foster the career of junior investigators working in
women's health research; and d) a Biostatistics Resource Core (BRC) to optimize the rigor of all SCORE-
supported research. Our focus on infectious diseases highlights the global burden of these conditions in
women, aligns with the priorities of the NIH Office of Women's Health Research (OWHR), and capitalizes on
Emory's research strengths in HIV translational research, basic immunology, and anti-viral drug development.
The three Research Projects will explore the synergy between HIV induced immune activation and chronic
inflammation and that induced by estrogen insensitivity observed in women aging with HIV infection. In the
Neuro hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis Project 1 (Drs. Neigh & Michopoulos), we speculate
that HIV interacts with multiple factors including stress exposure to decrease systemic estrogen levels and
down regulate cellular expressions of estrogen receptors thereby creating relative estrogen insufficiency state
with consequent heightening of chronic inflammation in women living with HIV (WLH). Using basic animal
models and translational clinical studies, the Musculoskeletal Project 2 (Drs. Weitzmann & Ofotokun) will
test the hypothesizes that enhanced fracture risk observed in WLH is due to the collision between
HIV/antiretroviral therapy (ART) induced inflammation and that induced by estrogen insufficiency as WLH age
with ART. The goal of the Cardiovascular Project 3 (Drs. Quyyumi & Shaw) will be to assess the combined
immune effects of HIV and estrogen status described in Project 1 & Project 2 on cardiovascular health as
assessed by endogenous reparative/regenerative capacity (circulating progenitor cells) and the development/
progression of sub-clinical coronary (CT angiography) and carotid artery (MRI) atherosclerosis in WLH
compared with HIV negative controls. All three projects will examine the same cohort of HIV infected women
and HIV negative controls prospectively recruited from active participants at the NIH funded Atlanta WIHS.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10231027
- **Project number:** 5U54AG062334-04
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Cecile Delille Lahiri
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,492,185
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-30 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10231027

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10231027, Emory Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences (5U54AG062334-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10231027. Licensed CC0.

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