Environment and early-life exposures shaping food allergy in children
Official title: An Exposomics Approach to Define the Environmental Determinants of Food Allergy
Funded at Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill · NIH-11450430 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This grant looks at how a child’s first year and their home environment may influence whether they develop food allergies, focusing on indoor exposures and microbes.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Chapel Hill, United States) |
| Project start | September 8, 2026 |
| Project end | August 31, 2031 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $1,463,898 |
| NIH project number | 1R01AI192829-01A1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11450430 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Infants and young children in the SUNBEAM birth cohort and their homes.
✕Less likely to help
No direct benefit to participants is guaranteed; findings may inform future prevention in similar populations.
What this research studies
Researchers will study how early-life exposure to environmental peanut allergens, adjuvants, and microbes in household dust affects the development of peanut allergy in children. They will use data from the SUNBEAM birth cohort to track exposures and allergy outcomes from infancy onward. The study aims to identify which indoor factors promote or protect against food sensitization and how these exposures interact with the infant microbiome to influence allergy risk.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Understanding these factors could lead to new strategies to prevent food allergies in children.
How similar studies have gone: Preclinical work suggests environmental exposures can shape allergy risk, with growing observational data in humans.
Where this research is happening
-
Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Smeekens, Johanna M — Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
- Study coordinator: Smeekens, Johanna M
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.