Santos Receives K23 Grant to Study Relationships between DNA Methylation, Maternal Hardship and Child Neurodevelopmental Outcomes

Hats off to Assistant Professor Hudson Santos, PhD, RN, who has received nearly $395,000 in grant funding from the National Institute of Nursing Research to establish relationships among DNA methylation, maternal hardship and neurodevelopmental impairment in extremely preterm children with an ultimate goal toward preventing or minimizing that impairment.

The three year study, titled “Placental DNA Methylation, Maternal Hardship and Child Neurodevelopmental Outcomes” aims to establish maternal hardship clusters using prenatal socioeconomic and stressful life event factors; identify association between maternal hardship clusters and child cognitive and affective outcomes at ages two, 10 and 15; and determine the extent to which DNA methylation mediates the relationship between maternal hardship and cognitive and affective outcomes.

Dr. Santos’s team includes Michael O’Shea, MD, MPH, Division Chief of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine and Rebecca Fry, PhD, Angle Distinguished Professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health as Co-Primary Mentors; Stephen Hooper, PhD, Associate Dean and Chair, Allied Health Sciences, of the UNC School of Medicine and Diane Holditch-Davis, PhD, RN, FAAN of the Duke University School of Nursing as Advisors, and Xianming Tan, PhD and Matthew Psioda, PhD, both biostatisticians in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, as Collaborators.

Congratulations, Hudson!

National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health Award Number K23NR017898, Santos (PI) 9/26/18-8/31/21 Funding $394,592: “Placental DNA Methylation, Maternal Hardship and Child Neurodevelopmental Outcomes”