# Response to Intervention and DNA methylation: A study of dynamic association

> **NIH NIH P50** · UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON · 2022 · $342,720

## Abstract

Project 5 (Epigenetics) is a new, but integral part of the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities, which now
moves into the field of genetics. As such is highly responsive to the RFA-HD-17-006 in that it focuses on
adolescents with severe reading problems in Grades 7-8 who are English learners (Els), i.e., an understudied
and underserved subpopulation of US adolescents. It has been designated a high-risk—high-reward project
because it offers a novel line of research attempting to investigate the correlations between the dynamics of
response to intervention (RTI) and DNA methylation across 21 months, sampling behavior, the brain, and the
methylome at three time points (prior to the beginning, in the middle, and upon completion of a high-quality
intensive reading intervention). Project 5 offers a set of objectives and hypotheses formulated around this
opportunity (SA1). In addition to content contributions that will be generated while achieving SA1, Project 5
offers two methodological aims (SA2 and SA3) to address issues concerning the specificity and generality of
the characteristics of the methylome when ascertained from different populations of cells. These issues are
central to and remain unresolved in the bourgeoning field of behavioral epigenetics. To achieve its Specific
Aims, Project 5 will recruit a sample of 672 adolescents stratified into three groups: typically developing
students (recruited from Project 2, Attention) and Els with persistent reading difficulties (recruited from Project
3, Intervention), who are further subdivided into treated and untreated (business as usual) students.
Capitalizing on the conceptualizations of learning disabilities and of RTI developed in Project 1 (Integration),
Project 5 aims to investigate both categorical (group) and continuous (dimensional) indicators of reading
performance and related processes cross-sectionally, as well as longitudinally at multiple levels of analyses—
the epigenome, the brain, and behavior, seeking to understand individual differences in instructional response.
It is hypothesized, in general, that both categorical and dimensional approaches to reading difficulties will be
marked by specific characteristics of the DNA methylation profile, captured by indicators of hyper- and
hypomethylation. We hypothesize that through the analyses of these characteristics, it will be possible to
identify genes and gene networks that substantiate learning in general and learning to read in particular.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10360558
- **Project number:** 5P50HD052117-15
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** ELENA L GRIGORENKO
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $342,720
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2006-06-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10360558

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10360558, Response to Intervention and DNA methylation: A study of dynamic association (5P50HD052117-15). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10360558. Licensed CC0.

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