How chronic stress during pregnancy changes gene switches in the placenta and baby's developing immune system
Official title: The Impact of Chronic Stress on Epigenetic Modifications in the Mother-Infant Dyad during Pregnancy
Funded at Morehouse School of Medicine · NIH-11417412 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether long-term stress in pregnancy changes gene switches in the placenta and baby, affecting immune and cardiovascular development for pregnant people and their infants.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Morehouse School of Medicine NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Atlanta, United States) |
| Project start | September 25, 2022 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $605,996 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MD017690-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11417412 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Pregnant people willing to share their health and stress history and provide blood samples during pregnancy and the placenta/cord blood at delivery, especially those with histories of chronic stress or adversity.
✕Less likely to help
People who are not pregnant or unwilling to provide biological samples or personal stress history are unlikely to participate or receive direct benefit from this project.
What this research studies
If you join, researchers will ask about your lifetime stress and health during pregnancy and take blood samples during pregnancy and at delivery. They will collect your placenta and your baby's cord blood at birth to look for epigenetic "gene switches" and immune cell changes using advanced DNA sequencing methods such as ATAC-seq and bisulfite sequencing. The team will compare these biological markers with reported stress levels and newborn health measures like birth weight and early immune markers. The work aims to link maternal stress with biological changes that might affect infant health and development.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could reveal biological pathways linking maternal stress to infant health and point to new ways to screen, prevent, or treat stress-related pregnancy complications.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies have found stress-related epigenetic changes in mothers and children, but using placental ATAC-seq and bisulfite sequencing to link maternal chronic stress specifically to infant immune development is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Morehouse School of Medicine
Atlanta, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Johnson, Erica L — Morehouse School of Medicine
- Study coordinator: Johnson, Erica L
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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.