# Quantifying the interactions among maternal race, vaginal metabolites, and microbes in preterm birth

> **NIH NIH F30** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2022 · $47,256

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Despite years of investigation into its causes and potential biomarkers, the rate of pregnancies ending preterm
in the United States has remained around 10% in the overall population and 15% in Black women. Two thirds of
preterm births occur spontaneously and are not initiated by a medical intervention. As spontaneous preterm birth
is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality, and is associated with maternal complications, it both
reflects and drives significant racial disparities in reproductive health. We and others have shown that both
vaginal metabolites and microbes are associated with spontaneous preterm birth, but also that these
associations vary across races. Therefore, in order to identify biomarkers that will enable early diagnosis of
preterm birth and develop strategies for its prevention in diverse populations, we must fully understand how
maternal race interacts with these associations. Understanding the role of race in spontaneous preterm birth will
require identifying the social and environmental variables that explain its impact on microbial and metabolite risk
factors. Previous studies on the influence of race on the associations between vaginal metabolites, microbes,
and preterm birth suffered from small sample sizes, limited clinical data, and a lack of longitudinal data. They
also relied on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, which measures only the composition of the microbiome, and does
not account for strain differences or quantify functional genetic elements.
The objective of this proposal is to study the interactions among maternal race, vaginal metabolite levels, vaginal
microbes, and spontaneous preterm birth. I will perform a paired analysis of vaginal metabolites and vaginal
metagenomic sequencing data, which profiles the entire genomic content of the microbiome. The data I will
analyze originates from the nuMoM2b cohort, a large, extensively characterized, and racially-diverse cohort of
pregnant women, in which microbiome samples were collected at multiple timepoints. My central hypothesis is
that maternal race has significant interactions with the associations among vaginal metabolites, vaginal
microbes, and preterm birth. To understand these interactions, I will identify associations between vaginal
metabolites and functional elements of vaginal microbes with spontaneous preterm birth, and compare them
between Black and white women. I will also identify microbiome dynamics using longitudinal data and
mathematical models of microbial interactions and growth rates. I will then identify the social and environmental
factors that explain the influence of race on associations among vaginal microbes, metabolites, and preterm
birth. This project will identify preterm birth risk factors that will be useful in diverse populations, will raise
additional hypotheses regarding potential mechanisms underlying spontaneous preterm birth in both Black and
white women, and will lay a groundwork for future re...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10538094
- **Project number:** 1F30HD108886-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** William Francis Kindschuh
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $47,256
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-15 → 2026-09-14

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10538094

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10538094, Quantifying the interactions among maternal race, vaginal metabolites, and microbes in preterm birth (1F30HD108886-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10538094. Licensed CC0.

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