# Epigenetic mechanisms of maternal diets in human health and disease prevention

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA · 2020 · $113,877

## Abstract

Project Summary
The Candidate The Candidate for this K01 award, Dr. Yuanyuan Li, is an Instructor in the Division of
Hematology and Oncology of the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
Dr. Li started her research studies in dietary epigenetic cancer research under the direction of Dr. Trygve
Tollefsbol, the primary Mentor of this K01 award, since 2006. Dr. Li's research interest centers on exploring the
molecular epigenetic mechanisms of disease initiation and discovering potential interactions between
epigenetic regulations and environmental impacts on human disease development and susceptibility. Dr. Li
has established remarkable research contributions as a result of her significant of publications and research
awards in the area. Dr. Yuanyuan Li is committed to acquire necessary training, practical experience and
knowledge to become an independent research investigator. During the first two years of the award, she will
focus on building up her research publication record and improving her skills in scientific writing including
research articles and grant applications. From the third year of this K01 award, Dr. Li will actively seek long-
term funding support that will allow her to become a fully independent investigator after completion of this K01
award. Dr. Li's long-term career goal is to establish an innovative and independent research program to
understand how genes and environment interact to influence disease development, and to explore novel
dietary intervention regimens for early disease prevention.
Institutional Environment UAB is one of the top research institutions in the U.S. and has outstanding
resources for trainees. There are state of the art laboratories for work in basic and clinical research and
outstanding core facilities for supporting molecular and clinical research activities. The candidate's more
immediate research environment is the Department of Biology and Wallace Tumor Institute (WTI) in the
Division of Hematology and Oncology of the Department of Medicine at UAB. The candidate is a member of
the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) and the Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC), both of
which will provide additional resources and infrastructure that will facilitate the completion of this project.
Research Summary The etiology of most human diseases involves complicated interactions of multiple
environmental factors with individual genetic background which is initially generated early in human life, for
example, during the processes of embryogenesis and fetal development in utero. Maternal exposure to certain
diets with properties in influencing epigenetic processes may influence the epigenetic reprograming processes
during early embryogenesis, which may consequently influence gene expression patterns and eventually affect
phenotype outcome in the offspring such as differences in disease susceptibility. The bioactive dietary
components, sulforaphane (SFN), an isothiocyanate enr...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9879692
- **Project number:** 5K01AT009373-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Yuanyuan Li
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $113,877
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-03-01 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9879692

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9879692, Epigenetic mechanisms of maternal diets in human health and disease prevention (5K01AT009373-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9879692. Licensed CC0.

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