# Advancing Psychosocial and Biobehavioral Stress Measurement to Understanding Aging

> **NIH NIH R24** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2022 · $380,082

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
At this stage in the COVID-19 pandemic, a critical issue has become to understand how long individuals can
maintain strong immunity from vaccinations, which groups are at highest risk, and what malleable social,
behavioral, and psychological factors can promote optimal maintenance. Fortunately, due to our initial R24
supplement, we have launched a remarkable study (The BOOST Study) designed to address these questions
by examining telomere length, stress, and behavioral factors as predictors with 94% adherence. We have the
opportunity to examine response to a second vaccination with the same design in the same cohort, by adding
data collection six months after the booster vaccination. We will be the first study to be able to examine the
trajectory of immune responses at 3 critical post vaccination time points over the first year of vaccination roll
out. We can address our original predictors, leukocyte telomere length and chronic stress and age
interactions (Aims 1) as predictors of COVID-19 vaccination response trajectories (based on antibody
response at 6 weeks, and maintenance of antibodies at 6 months and now, newly, 6 months after booster
shot). Further, we can now test how these factors predict breakthrough infections (Aim 2). Lastly, this
supplement allows us to collect cells enabling us to apply for an R01 to examine T cell responses to
vaccination (Aim 3), a critical part of immune protection but rarely studied due to the costs of these in vitro
cell assays. Now that COVID-19 has become endemic, these questions are of critical importance to public
health for decades to come.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10630016
- **Project number:** 3R24AG048024-09S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Elissa S. Epel
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $380,082
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2014-09-30 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10630016

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10630016, Advancing Psychosocial and Biobehavioral Stress Measurement to Understanding Aging (3R24AG048024-09S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10630016. Licensed CC0.

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