Monday, March 2, 2026 3/2/2026

Systemic interindividual epigenetic variants in African Americans: Identification, characterization, and prospective associations with obesity

Award Number: R01DK129265
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES & DIGESTIVE & KIDNEY DISEASES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/24/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2026

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Systemic interindividual epigenetic variants in African Americans: Identification, characterization, and prospective associations with obesity - PROJECT SUMMARY (Abstract) In addition to genetics and environment, interindividual variation in epigenetic regulation may determine risk of obesity. Of various epigenetic mechanisms, DNA methylation is this most stable; once established during development, DNA methylation patterns are mitotically heritable and can persist for many years in humans. Compared to genetic epidemiology, however, studying epigenetic determinants of obesity is much more complicated, for two main reasons. First, epigenetic mechanisms are largely cell type-specific, so studying DNA methylation in easily accessible tissues (like peripheral blood) does not generally provide information about epigenetic regulation in organs important to energy balance (like the brain). Second, obesity itself can affect DNA methylation patterns, so `reverse causality' is a problem. Over the last decade we pioneered an approach to circumvent these obstacles by identifying human genomic regions that exhibit systemic interindividual variation in DNA methylation (correlated regions of systemic interindividual variation – CoRSIVs). Last year we reported the identification of nearly 10,000 human CoRSIVs. These regions are stable and systemic epigenetic variants – essentially epigenetic polymorphisms - enabling large-scale epigenetic epidemiologic studies using peripheral blood DNA. Our initial screen was conducted in Caucasians, and our data show that there are many more human CoRSIVs to identify. Given that African Americans are both grossly underrepresented in genomic and epigenomic analyses, and disproportionately overburdened by obesity, it is now urgent to scale up and diversify our CoRSIV screen by studying African Americans directly. Accordingly, our Aims in this project are to 1) Perform an unbiased screen for CoRSIVs in African American donors in the NIH Gene-Tissue Expression program (GTEx), 2) Validate systemic interindividual epigenetic variation and cross-tissue prediction of gene expression in a large sample of African Americans, and 3) Test whether CoRSIV methylation at birth predicts risk of childhood obesity in AA children. We anticipate that completion of our project will transform the study of epigenetics in human obesity, and epigenetic epidemiology in general. The focus of this project on African Americans is justified both scientifically and from the basis of social justice.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2026	2024	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	1 BAYLOR PLZ	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research	000	4	12/4/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2025	2024	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	1 BAYLOR PLZ	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research	000	4	7/29/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $527,217 )
2024	2024	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	1 BAYLOR PLZ	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research	000	4	6/12/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$527,217
														Subtotal = $527,217

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $562,065 )
2023	2023	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	1 BAYLOR PLZ	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research	000	3	5/16/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$562,065
														Subtotal = $562,065

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $581,448 )
2022	2022	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	1 BAYLOR PLZ	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research	000	2	5/23/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$581,448
														Subtotal = $581,448

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $519,638 )
2021	2021	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	ONE BAYLOR PLAZA	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research	000	1	8/23/2021	NEW	$519,638
														Subtotal = $519,638

Grand Total All Awards = $2,190,368

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Systemic interindividual epigenetic variants in African Americans: Identification, characterization, and prospective associations with obesity

Award Number: R01DK129265

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES & DIGESTIVE & KIDNEY DISEASES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/24/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2026

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer