# A Technique for Measuring Transcription Factor Activity

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO · 2021 · $101,017

## Abstract

Summary
 Almost every division of NIH has invested heavily in understanding transcription factors (TFs). TFs are
the managers of the cell, controlling everything from cell type to cellular response to stress. With their great
power, it is no wonder, many human disorders (cancer, familial platelet disorder, Waardenburg syndrome,
etc.) result from mutations in transcription factors. Moreover, over 75% of disease causing variants within the
human genome reside in regulatory regions, which are dense with TF binding sites. Currently we can
measure the location of TF binding, but binding does not equate with regulatory activity. Furthermore,
binding analysis is conducted one TF at a time. What is desperately needed is a technology that is able to
measure the activity of all TFs in a cell simultaneously. We have developed a novel approach, called eRNA
profiling, that leverages enhancer RNAs to infer the activity of all TFs in a cell simultaneously. In this grant we
seek to optimize our technology, making eRNA profiling more accurate, fast and broadly applicable.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10430968
- **Project number:** 3R01GM125871-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
- **Principal Investigator:** Robin DeAnne Dowell-Deen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $101,017
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-09-05 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10430968

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10430968, A Technique for Measuring Transcription Factor Activity (3R01GM125871-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10430968. Licensed CC0.

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