Research

Birth Cohorts

Early Intervention: Elucidating early life molecular trajectories of asthma risk in airway cells.

Collaborators: J. Gern, PI (UWisconsin), L. Bacharier (Vanderbilt), M. Kattan (Columbia U), G. O'Connor (Boston U), K. Rivera-Spoljaric (Wash U), R. Wood (JHU), NIAID (UM1 AI160040)

URECA — Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma

Genetic contributions to epigenetic-defined endotypes of allergic phenotypes in children.

Thompson EE, Zhong X, Carbonetto P, Morin A, Willwerscheid J .....Stephens M, Jackson DJ, Gern JE, McKennan CG, Ober C  ·  Am J Hum Genet  ·  2025  ·  PMID 40614707

A functional genomics pipeline to identify high-value asthma and allergy CpGs in the human methylome.

Morin A, Thompson EE, Helling BA, Shorey-Kendrick LE, Faber P .....Hartert T, Jackson DJ, Gern JE, McKennan CG, Ober C  ·  J Allergy Clin Immunol  ·  2023  ·  PMID 36754293

Collaborators: A. Singh (PI), T. Hartert (Vanderbilt U, Nashville), K. Rivera-Spoljaric (Wash U), E. Zoratti (Henry Ford Health, Detroit), C. McKennan (U Pittsburgh), Susan Lynch (UCSF), Matt Altman (Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle) (NIAID R01 AI202514)

CANOE — Childhood Allergy and the Neonatal Environment

Papers coming shortly.

Collaborators: Y. Li (UNC), C. Keet (UNC), D. Jackson (UWisconsin), P. Ryan (U Cincinnati), SUNBEAM Investigators, NIAID (U01 AI190013)

SUNBEAM — Systems Biology of Early Atopy

Newly funded in 2026.

Collaborators: J. Gern, PI (UWisconsin) and CADRE investigators, NIAID (U24 AI179612)

CADRE — Children's Allergy & Asthma Data Repository

Epigenetic gestational age acceleration in cord blood is associated with activated inflammatory gene pathways and childhood asthma.

Prichina AY, Seroogy CM, Eapen AA, Singh S, Visness CM .....Gern JE, DeMeo DL, McKennan CG, Ober C, Thompson EE  ·  J Allergy Clin Immunol  ·  2026  ·  PMID 42302975

Prenatal ambient air pollution associations with DNA methylation in asthma- and allergy-relevant genes: findings from ECHO.

Palmore M, Thompson EE, Fang F, Bastain TM, Breton C .....Stanford J, Gern J, McKennan C, Ober C, Ladd-Acosta C  ·  Environmental Epigenetics  ·  2025  ·  PMID 40438471

Cross Sectional and Longitudinal Studies

Personalizing Medicine: Identifying genetic and epigenetic signatures of asthma endotypes and predictors of response to asthma biologics in children.

Collaborators: D. Jackson, PI (UWisconsin), J. Gern (UWisconsin), C. McKennan (U Pittsburgh), Susan Lynch (UCSF), Matt Altman (Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle), and the CAUSE investigators, NIAID (UM1 AI160040)

CAUSE — Childhood Asthma in Urban Settings

Cumulative genetic risk for asthma contributes to disease severity in children with asthma.

Dapas M, Wentworth-Sheilds W, Thompson EE, Kumar R, Lippner E .....Visness CM, Gergen PJ, Becker PM, Jackson DJ, Ober C  ·  J Allergy Clin Immunol Glob  ·  2026  ·  PMID 42305392

Gene-based association study of rare variants in children of diverse ancestries implicates TNFRSF21 in the development of allergic asthma.

Clay S, Alladina J, Smith NP, Visness CM, Wood RA .....Medoff BD, Gern JE, Jackson DJ, Ober C, Dapas M  ·  J Allergy Clin Immunol  ·  2023  ·  PMID 37944567

Multi-omic association study identifies DNA methylation-mediated genotype and smoking exposure effects on lung function in children living in urban settings.

Dapas M, Thompson EE, Wentworth-Sheilds W, Clay S, Visness CM .....Nicolae D, O'Connor GT, Gern JE, Jackson DJ, Ober C  ·  PLoS Genet  ·  2023  ·  PMID 36638096

Collaborators: W. Phipatanakul, PI (Boston Children's Hospital), C. McKennan (U Pittsburgh), PARK investigators, NIAID (U01 AI179563)

PARK — Preventing Asthma in High Risk Kids

Funded in 2025.

Founder Populations

Mechanisms of Protection: Studying molecular mechanisms of asthma protection in Amish children.

Collaborators: Donata Vercelli (U Arizona), Nathan Schoettler (UChicago), M. Holbreich (NIAID R56 AI201174)

Amish and Hutterite Studies

Innate Immunity and Asthma Risk in Amish and Hutterite Farm Children.

Stein MM, Hrusch CL, Gozdz J, Igartua C, Pivniouk V .....Martinez FD, von Mutius E, Vercelli D, Ober C, Sperling AI  ·  N Engl J Med  ·  2016  ·  PMID 27518660

Immune development and environment: lessons from Amish and Hutterite children.

Ober C, Sperling AI, von Mutius E, Vercelli D  ·  Curr Opin Immunol  ·  2017  ·  PMID 28843541

T-cell phenotypes are associated with serum IgE levels in Amish and Hutterite children.

Hrusch CL, Stein MM, Gozdz J, Holbreich M, von Mutius E, Vercelli D, Ober C, Sperling AI  ·  J Allergy Clin Immunol  ·  2019  ·  PMID 31401285

UChicago Asthma Genomics Center

Asthma Gene Discovery: Integrating genetic, molecular, and cellular studies.

Collaborators: Marcelo Nóbrega, Xin He, Nathan Schoettler, Sharmilee Nyenhuis, NIAID (U19 AI162310)