# Core D: Biomarkers and Biobanking Core

> **NIH NIH P01** · HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · 2020 · $60,055

## Abstract

Core D: Biomarkers and Biobanking Core—Abstract
The Health and Aging in Africa: Longitudinal Studies of an INDEPTH Community (HAALSI) Program
Biomarkers and Biobanking Core (Core D) will be critical to achieving the goals of all five projects and for
enabling both internal and external collaboration that can extend over a long period of time and across a broad
research network. Biobanking research has become a cornerstone of modern population-based study
approaches to ensure that maximum benefit is derived from existing resources and collected data and samples
and to enhance knowledge generation and discovery potential.1, 2 Biomarker measurement and assessment is
an objective measure of parameters that provide information on the state of health of an individual at the time
of collection as well as on their inherent genetic risk or predisposition for specific traits or diseases.
Longitudinal biomarker measurements planned for the HAALSI study will allow the tracking of changes in
various biomarkers with increasing age and with a changing environment, for example, in the context of high
rates of HIV infection, famine, lifestyle changes, and greater access to health care. Through collaboration with
the African Wits-INDEPTH Partnership for the Genomic Study of Body Composition and Cardiometabolic
Disease Risk (AWI-Gen) Collaborative Center,3 which is part of the Human Heredity & Health in Africa
(H3Africa) Consortium,4 we will have access to genome-wide data on genetic variation that can be analyzed in
the context of the phenotypic data we will be collecting in the HAALSI Program. The depth of information will
make it possible to assess potential population stratification and to build in corrective measures to circumvent
population sub-structure as a confounding variable in comparative genomic studies. The expertise of the Core
D leaders and its collaborating investigators will ensure appropriate and extensive blood and urine biomarker
analysis and genomic investigations (including telomere length and epigenetic DNA methylation analysis), as
well as data analysis and interpretation. The paucity of health biomarker data from African populations5-8
makes the proposed HAALSI Biobank and its biomarker testing capacity an extremely valuable resource, not
only for the study of the substantive HAALSI cohort of 5,059 participants, but also for future research
investigations. Its value, however, can only be secured through good governance practices for biobanking and
biomarker measurement and data storage and management.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9950986
- **Project number:** 5P01AG041710-07
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Michele Michele Ramsay
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $60,055
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9950986

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9950986, Core D: Biomarkers and Biobanking Core (5P01AG041710-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9950986. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*