# Social, environmental, and epigenetic drivers of atopic dermatitis disease course

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2022 · $174,409

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This is an application for a K23 award for Dr. Katrina Abuabara, a dermatologist, sociologist and epidemiologist
at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Abuabara is establishing herself as an investigator in the
patient-oriented clinical research of atopic dermatitis (eczema). This K23 award will provide Dr. Abuabara with
the support necessary to: (1) become an expert at patient-oriented research in atopic dermatitis; (2) combine
exposure and risk factor data with genomic and clinical measures; (3) implement advanced methods for
longitudinal data analysis; (4) implement bioinformatics for the analysis and presentation of genomic data; and
(5) develop an independent clinical research career. To achieve these goals, Dr. Abuabara has assembled a
mentoring team comprised of a primary mentor, Dr. Lindsey Criswell, an epigenetic epidemiologist and clinical
investigator studying heterogeneous autoimmune disease, and two co-mentors: Dr. Chuck McCulloch, a
biostatistician and expert in longitudinal data analysis, and Dr. Pui-Yan Kwok, a dermatologist and human
geneticist.
Atopic dermatitis affects 10% of the U.S. population across their lifespans from early childhood through elder
age, yet varies in severity and disease activity. Some patients have mild disease and others have disease so
severe that its impact on quality of life is akin to type 1 diabetes or cystic fibrosis. The disease also waxes and
wanes; patients may have periods without active disease that range from days to decades. Research on the
variability in the natural history of the disease course is necessary to identify drivers of disease activity and to
design personalized intervention strategies. Dr. Abuabara proposes to use electronic medical record and
detailed questionnaire data repeated at multiple time points to identify subgroups of individuals with distinct
patterns of disease activity (Aim 1), examine which early life exposures, including social and physical
environments, are most predictive of disease (Aim 2), and finally test the hypothesis that the effect(s) of these
exposures are transmitted via methylation changes to the DNA (Aims 3 and 4). The results will inform future
studies examining whether epigenetic changes can be used as predictive biomarkers to identify patients likely
to have a more severe course or those who are more likely to respond to treatments.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10410394
- **Project number:** 5K23AR073915-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Katrina Elaine Abuabara
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $174,409
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-03 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10410394

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10410394, Social, environmental, and epigenetic drivers of atopic dermatitis disease course (5K23AR073915-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10410394. Licensed CC0.

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