# Children's Respiratory and Environmental Workgroup (CREW)

> **NIH NIH UH3** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2021 · $13,371,640

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Individual birth cohort studies have identified risk factors for developing childhood asthma, including
environmental exposures in early life such as allergens, pollutants, patterns of infection and colonization with
viruses and bacteria, and psychosocial stress. Despite such advances, further progress in understanding the
root causes of asthma have been hampered by at least two factors. First, procedures and scientific methods
are not standardized across cohorts, making it difficult to compare and validate findings. Second, asthma
definitions across cohorts vary considerably. In fact, asthma is a syndrome; there are different subtypes of
asthma with distinct clinical features (“asthma phenotypes”) and likely different etiologies (“asthma
endotypes”). We hypothesize that host factors (genetics, epigenetics) interact with environmental
exposures during the prenatal period and early childhood to cause specific endotypes of childhood
asthma. We further propose that identification of endotypes and associated molecular biomarkers in early life
can provide a new paradigm for asthma prevention. Unfortunately, single cohorts have limited ability to identify
asthma endotypes due to small sample size and unique population characteristics. To overcome shortcomings
of individual cohorts, investigators leading 12 asthma birth cohorts across the U.S. now propose the
establishment of the Children's Respiratory Research and Environment Workgroup (“CREW”) consortium. This
consortium proposes to identify asthma endotypes and overcome shortcomings of individual cohorts by: 1)
providing a large (nearly 9000 births and long-term follow-up of 6000-7000 children and young adults) and
diverse national data set, 2) harmonizing data related to asthma clinical indicators and early life environmental
exposures, 3) developing standardized measures for prospective data collection across CREW cohorts and
other ECHO studies, and 4) conducting targeted enrollment of additional subjects into existing cohorts. This
approach will enable collection of samples that are optimized for a systems approach to understanding how
environmental and host factors in early life promote the development of specific asthma endotypes.
Collectively, the results of this comprehensive research to identify the root causes of asthma vs. resilience and
health will go far beyond what can be accomplished by individual cohorts, and thus provide a foundation for
future efforts aimed at personalized prevention of chronic childhood asthma.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10241271
- **Project number:** 5UH3OD023282-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** James E. Gern
- **Activity code:** UH3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $13,371,640
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-21 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10241271

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10241271, Children's Respiratory and Environmental Workgroup (CREW) (5UH3OD023282-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10241271. Licensed CC0.

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