# Immune Development Across the Life Course: Integrating Exposures and Multi-Omics in the Boston Birth Cohort

> **NIH NIH U01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $822,244

## Abstract

Abstract
 Our overarching goal is to investigate the impact of early life immune response to a broad array of
pathogenic and commensal microbes and exposure to multiple environmental pollutants on the development
and prognosis of allergic diseases from birth up to age 18 years and their underlying molecular pathways. Our
project is motivated by growing evidence that in-utero and the first few years of life are critical windows for the
development of immunity, and by observations that early life exposures to microbes and environmental
pollutants may have a profound impact on future risk of allergic diseases. To achieve our goal, we will leverage
the rich resources of the Boston Birth Cohort (BBC), with ~3,500 mother-child pairs who were enrolled at birth
and followed prospectively. Through our prior research in the BBC, we have established essential clinical,
laboratory and computational infrastructures, and obtained longitudinal epidemiological and clinical data, and
multi-omics (genome, epigenome, metabolome) data as well as archived biospecimens. We have shown that
the BBC is a high-risk population for adverse environmental exposures and the children of the BBC have a
high prevalence of immune-related disorders, including food allergies, early childhood recurrent wheezing and
childhood asthma. The breadth, depth, and high quality of the BBC data and biorepository have been
demonstrated in over 120 peer-reviewed publications. We also have generated compelling preliminary data to
support our study aims and hypotheses. Specifically, by including 1,000 mother-child dyads of the BBC with
key longitudinal data elements and biospecimens from birth up to age 18 years, we aim to investigate: (1)
effects of early life immune response to microbes on child allergic phenotypes; (2) effects of early life exposure
to environmental pollutants (e.g., air pollution, toxic metals) on child allergic phenotypes; and (3) molecular
pathways underlying the link between early life environmental exposures and allergic diseases. We will
harness cutting-edge antibody profiling technology (PhIP-Seq) to profile IgG and IgE antibodies in 1,000 BBC
children at three important developmental windows (birth, 1-2 years, and 15-18 years). This will provide deep
phenotyping of a child’s antibody profile and identify longitudinal changes in the context of prenatal, perinatal,
and postnatal genetic and environmental interactions. Our ability to profile the antibody repertoire and define
allergic phenotypes across critical developmental windows allow us to delineate their longitudinal trajectories,
temporal and dose-response relationships between the exposures and outcomes. Successful completion of
this study will help identify important early life risk and protective factors, along with novel biomarkers for
prediction or therapeutic targets. Ultimately, we hope that high-risk newborns can be identified, and effective
interventions can be initiated during the earliest developmental wi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10418079
- **Project number:** 1U01ES034983-01
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Hongkai Ji
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $822,244
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-15 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10418079

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10418079, Immune Development Across the Life Course: Integrating Exposures and Multi-Omics in the Boston Birth Cohort (1U01ES034983-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10418079. Licensed CC0.

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