Dr. Samir Kelada (Associate Professor) was awarded a new R01 grant from NIEHS for his project titled “Discovery of gene-by-air pollution interactions in respiratory disease using genetically diverse mice with validation in humans”.
The goal of the project is to identify gene-environment interactions (GxE) with acute and chronic exposure to the ambient air pollutant ozone (O3) that contribute to common, chronic respiratory diseases like asthma and COPD. After mapping quantitative trait loci at high resolution and identifying candidate genes, the team will test for GxE in asthma in the Children’s Health Study and in COPD in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Air Pollution Study. In total, the work will reveal novel genes that affect O3-induced asthma and COPD onset and/or progression.