# Longitudinal investigations of the infant virome and its associations with obesity

> **NIH NIH R01** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $507,365

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 The role of the human microbiome in growth and development has become an intensive area of
investigation and convincing data demonstrate that perturbations can influence growth in adults and in animals.
Almost all work, however, has focused on the bacterial microbiome, and not on the even more abundant
eukaryotic and prokaryotic virome. The virome, however, has equal or more potential to affect growth. In
children under three years old, the great majority of infections are caused by viruses; these infections take both
a metabolic toll and, on a more chronic level, have the potential to highjack endocrine, neurologic and
metabolic systems. To date, however, very little is known about this essential component of the human
metagenome. Prior studies on the virome: 1) have been limited as to body site investigated, 2) have not
typically included healthy children, and 3) do not capture the dynamic changes in the virome occurring over
time. Here we propose to use metagenomic next-generation sequencing (NGS) to analyze the gut, respiratory,
and blood virome in serially collected samples from 86 children from birth to age 3, collected as part of a
unique, multiethnic, pediatric cohort from northern California (the STORK study). A comparison group of 50
Bangladeshi children will also be assessed. Longitudinal sampling of the pediatric virome will reveal how the
virome is initially established and changes over time. We hypothesize that establishment of a baseline virome
and dynamic changes from birth to three years will have a significant impact in modulating growth in young
children. Novel aspects of this project include: (1) longitudinal sampling of child from birth to age 3 years in the
US, (2) simultaneous sampling of the virome in three body fluid compartments (blood, nasal swabs, and stool),
(3) state-of-the-art metagenomic analysis by NGS coupled to a rapid bioinformatics pipeline, (4) accurate viral
quantitation using a massively parallel NGS multiplexing approach and (5) ability to correlate viral findings with
well-curated anthropometric, clinical and epidemiological outcomes data to search for associations, and with
immunome and microbiome data generated in other projects to enable network analysis of host-microbial
interactions. The proposed project will generate the most comprehensive and in-depth analysis to date of how
the virome impacts growth in early life and has the potential to alter our approach to pathogenesis, prevention
and treatment of childhood obesity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9959484
- **Project number:** 5R01HD088837-04
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Julie Parsonnet
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $507,365
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-12 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9959484

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9959484, Longitudinal investigations of the infant virome and its associations with obesity (5R01HD088837-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9959484. Licensed CC0.

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