Expanding understanding of asthma in kids through airways and blood profiling
Official title: EXposomic Profiling in Airway disease to uNravel Determinants of disease in Asthma (EXPAND-Asthma) Center
Funded at University of California, San Francisco · NIH-11551266 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A study at UC San Francisco will profile blood and nasal/sputum samples from 300 youth (including 200 with asthma) over a year to understand how environmental and social factors influence asthma in marginalized communities.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California, San Francisco NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, United States) |
| Project start | September 12, 2023 |
| Project end | May 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $26,858 |
| NIH project number | 3U01HG013276-04S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11551266 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are youth aged 0-11 years old (including around 8 years old) with and without asthma living in Richmond, CA, with willingness to provide samples across a year.
✕Less likely to help
Participants without asthma may not directly benefit from disease-focused insights, though control data will contribute to understanding baseline biology.
What this research studies
This project will enroll 200 youth with asthma and 100 without in Richmond, CA, a community with high environmental stress. Researchers will collect blood and airway samples (nasal swabs and sputum) during stable periods and during acute asthma events, plus detailed phenotyping. They will generate multiple layers of data (multi-omics) to capture molecular changes in both the blood and the airways and how these relate to exposures like air pollution and psychosocial stress. The goal is to map how exposures, biology, and social context together shape asthma outcomes for underserved children. Findings could guide more personalized prevention and treatment approaches for these communities.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the research could lead to more precise ways to predict and manage asthma in African American/Latine children facing high stress and pollution.
How similar studies have gone: Similar multi-omics and environmental exposure studies have shown meaningful insights in asthma, but this project focuses on understudied communities and integrated longitudinal design.
Where this research is happening
-
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Christenson, Stephanie a — University of California, San Francisco
- Study coordinator: Christenson, Stephanie a
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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.