Women’s Health Research Pilot Grant Program

Annoucement:  Request for Application

Due:                  Feb 17, 2025

 

Awarded Proposals 

2024 

Andrea Pires dos Santos, DVM, MSc, PhD, DACVP (Clinical)

Associate Professor of Veterinary Clinical Pathology
Director of the Cytology Resource Center
Department of Comparative Pathobiology

Co-PIs:

Guiherme Barreto Campos, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Federal University of Bahia in Brazil

Lucas Miranda Marques, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering
Federal University of Bahia in Brazil 

Project title: “Evaluation of the Contribution of Genital Ureaplasmas in the Etiopathogenesis of Miscarriage in Brazilian Women”

Miscarriage is a public health problem with multiple causes, including infections. Among the infectious agents associated with miscarriage, bacteria of the vaginal microbiota have been associated with abortion, but their specific role requires further elucidation. In previous data from our research group, the presence of U. parvum in placental tissue increased pro-inflammatory cytokines. It negatively regulated cytokine expression in the immune response against pathogens in spontaneous abortion. Therefore, the present study aims to use different "omics" strategies to comprehend the relationship between the microbial community associated with U. parvum colonization and the regulation of genes and microRNAs associated with the etiopathogenesis of infectious miscarriage. We will use the same samples (endocervical swabs and placental tissue) from our previous study collected at a maternal and child referral center in Vitória da Conquista Bahia, Brazil. The cervical and placental samples will be subjected to DNA extraction and sequencing for microbiome analysis. In addition, placental tissue samples will undergo RNA extraction for transcriptome and small RNA analysis. These results may serve as a basis for future grant-seeking for a robust and comprehensive study involving a consortium of samples from multiple institutions. This robust study can provide valuable insights to guide prevention and treatment strategies. We expect that this study to pave the way for future research to guide and improve maternal health by helping to reduce the incidence of spontaneous abortions and improving medical monitoring during pregnancy.

(This project is funded with the partnerships of the Purdue College Veterinary Medicine, the Department of Comparative Pathobiology, and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute) 

Susan South, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychological Sciences
Department of Psychological Sciences 

Project title: “Sex Differences in Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease: Daily Measures of Mood, Cognition, and Social Engagement”

Approximately 60-80% of all late life dementias are accounted for by Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias (ADRD). There is a sex difference in the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, with approximately 2/3 of those affected being women. Research suggests that lack of social engagement and subjective feelings of loneliness are associated with cognitive decline and dementia. Women report higher mean levels of loneliness and are more physiologically affected by interpersonal conflict. Thus, it may be that women may be more at risk from loneliness and adverse interpersonal experiences as a precursor to AD. Of note, there is also a well-established 2:1 sex difference in the incidence and lifetime prevalence of depression, which is a known risk factor for ADRD. Lifetime history of depression or current depression may exacerbate the effect of interpersonal experiences on cognitive functioning, particularly for women. The goal of the current proposed pilot project is to investigate the daily interplay between adverse interpersonal experiences and fluctuations in daily cognitive ability and determine if depressive symptomatology magnifies the association. Participants will include those self-report subjective cognitive decline within the past year; they will complete baseline measures of demographics, cognitive ability, and a structured interview for current and past depression history. A subsequent two-week experience sampling assessment (i.e., daily diary protocol) will be used to identify the daily impact of interpersonal experiences on cognitive ability; analyses will examine if this association is moderated by current or past depressive symptomatology. The pilot data obtained from this project will be used to submit a large, longitudinal study to the National Institute on Aging to examine sex differences in the effect of depression and social engagement/ interpersonal experiences on the transition from mild cognitive impairment to dementia. 

(This project is funded with the partnership of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute)

Wendy Koss, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Professor
Director of Purdue Animal Behavior Core
Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience

Co-PIs:

Ranjie Xue, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Basic Medical Sciences

Jean-Christophe Rochet, Ph.D.
Professor 
Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology

Project title: “Sex differences in the Timing and Severity of Cognitve Deficits and Pathology Using the 3xTg Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease”

There is a tremendous need for more sex-specific studies in AD research, especially when different drug treatments have lower efficacy in one sex/gender. Specifically, women make up two-thirds of all AD patients in the US and Europe. However, many preclinical and clinical studies tend to ignore sex/gender and do not stratify data by sex/gender, making it impossible to determine if sex differences do exist. The completion of the experiments in this proposal aims to specifically explore sex differences in AD. With this preliminary data, we intend to build a foundation for a research program dedicated to exploring the underlying mechanisms causing sex differences in AD. Using the 3xTg mouse model, we will correlate the timing and severity of cognitive deficits with biochemical changes in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex regions of the brain. We predict that the timing, severity, and possibly the cause for cognitive deficits will be different between the sexes. It is known that cognitive deficits appear earlier in females than males in this AD mouse model. This creates a window to explore the underlying biological mechanisms that may cause sex differences seen in behavior. This work's overall aim is to reveal sex preclinical differences in AD that may translate to humans which will promote sex-specific data analysis in drug discovery and provide a rationale that AD may be a disease that requires sex-specific treatments.

(This project is funded with the partnerships of Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute)

Laura Murray-Kolb, Ph.D.

Professor and Head
Department of Nutrition Science

Project title: “Rough Journey to Menopause: How Does Perimenopausal Menorrhagia Affect  Women's Quality of Life and Cognitive Function?”

The goal of this randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to understand the effects of iron status and supplementation on perimenopausal women’s cognitive performance, family relationships, and overall quality of life. Perimenopause, or the menopause transition, is associated with significant hormonal and reproductive changes in women. Evidence documents interindividual differences in the symptoms associated with perimenopause. One of the most common is perimenopausal menorrhagia (PM), defined as abnormally heavy bleeding, which may place a woman at risk for iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA). Women with PM frequently complain of fatigue and impaired work performance, among other symptoms. While these symptoms, along with changes in cognitive performance and affect, have been shown to occur with ID and IDA in women of reproductive age, their underlying cause in perimenopausal women remains ill-defined. Here, we propose to measure specific biomarkers of iron status and to assess women’s cognitive performance and quality of family relationships as well as life during perimenopause. Women will be categorized based on iron status and groups will be compared within timepoint to assess the relationship between varying levels of iron status and the outcome variables and across time points to assess the effects of supplementation. This study will be the first to examine the effects of iron status on these outcomes during this important life transition and the data will be instrumental when competing for future funding to better determine the dose and duration of iron supplementation needed for optimal improvement in these women. Findings from this study will begin to fill critical gaps in our knowledge and serve to inform policy relating to the surveillance and treatment of iron deficiency in women during perimenopause. 

(This project is funded with the partnership of the College of Health and Human Sciences) 

2023

Kathryn J. LaRoche, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Public Health
Department of Public Health

Project title: “Exploring Patient Experiences with Miscarriage Care in Indiana in the Midst of a Shifting Regulatory Environment”    

Miscarriage is an extremely common reproductive health experience; approximately 20% of pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriage each year. Indiana has recently introduced legislation (SB1) to restrict access to abortion and experts have expressed concern that this policy will also negatively impact access to essential miscarriage care. Abortion and miscarriage use the same medications and procedures as a part of routine care. However, the effects of SB1 on patients and providers are not well understood and not been rigorously investigated. This study is designed to help us begin to understand the impact of SB1 on the provision of miscarriage care across the state of Indiana and to fill a much-needed gap in the literature by centering women’s voices in research about miscarriage in the United States. Miscarriage remains an understudied topic and current legislative changes in the state and across the country mean that studying this issue is both timely and critical. 

(This project is funded with the partnerships of the Purdue College of Health and Human Sciences and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute)

Multi-PI:

Jennifer Brown, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences
Department of Psychological Sciences

Lochner Marais, Ph.D.

Professor
Center for Development Support
University of the Free State, South Africa

Project title: “Development of a Culturally-Tailored, Adolescent-Driven Dual Protection Intervention Approach for South African Adolescents”    

Black South African adolescent girls experience health disparities related to both unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STI) including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Our team, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has previously employed Cultural Consensus Modeling with South African adolescent girls to examine cultural factors associated with dual protection methods (i.e., methods that prevent both unintended pregnancy and HIV/STI). To shift the current dominant school-based sexual health messaging to one that incorporates culturally-appropriate, highly effective dual protection strategies, the proposed study will adapt a nationally implemented school-delivered sexual health curriculum (love4life), using a youth-led Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach. We will also evaluate potential barriers to the widespread implementation of the modified curriculum. This pilot study will produce the first culturally-adapted sexual health curriculum to focus on dual protection to reduce both unintended pregnancies and STIs/HIV among South African adolescent girls. The successful execution of our proposal will provide foundational pilot research for subsequent external funding applications to conduct a randomized clinical trial of the adapted school-delivered sexual health education intervention. If efficacious, the intervention has the potential to reduce both unintended pregnancies and STIs/HIV among South African adolescent girls.

(This project is funded by the WGHI Mildred Elizabeth Edmundson Research Grant)

Multi-PI:

Faria Chaudhry, PharmD, BCPS

Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
Department of Pharmacy Practice

Sonak Pastakia, PharmD, MPH, Ph.D., BCPS, FCCP

Professor of Pharmacy Practice
Department of Pharmacy Practice

Project title: “Evaluating the Impact of a Community Health Worker for Diabetes Management in Self-Employed Women in India”    

The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is the largest trade union of women in the world advocating for the rights of low-income female laborers in Southeast Asia. Through a nearly 10-year-long collaboration with Purdue faculty and Abbott laboratories, SEWA has tried to expand SEWA’s mandate to respond to the growing burden of non-communicable diseases. With the growing number of people in India with diabetes, India has the unfortunate designation of having one of the world’s highest burdens. While there are numerous barriers to managing the clinical aspects of diabetes, these barriers are further complicated by the social determinant of health barriers that the women of SEWA disproportionately face. Many of these women battle economic distress and family needs while trying to navigate the complex healthcare system of India. SEWA has tried to address these barriers for women and their families by hiring and training their union members to become community health workers (CHWs) who provide a comprehensive set of health-promoting services. This includes health education, socio-behavioral support and counseling, socioeconomic assistance, and direct provision of clinical services such as glucose screening. While SEWA has been offering this comprehensive package of services for over 5 years, a formal evaluation documenting the impact of SEWA’s unique CHW model has not been completed. The objective of this proposal is to provide detailed tracking and evaluate the process and clinical outcomes for community members participating in SEWA’s non-communicable disease (NCD) activities. We hypothesize that the SEWA CHW-supported model will result in higher linkage and retention in care and a lower HbA1c compared to the standard model of care.

(This project is funded with the partnerships of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, 
the Purdue College of Pharmacy and the Department of Pharmacy Practice)

Multi-PI:

Russel Main, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Basic Medical Sciences
Department of Basic Medical Sciences

Marxa L. Figueiredo, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Basic Medical Sciences
Department of Basic Medical Sciences

Project title: “Maximizing Peak Bone Mass: Interactions among Genetics and Mechanical Loading”    
Preventing osteoporosis requires maximizing peak bone mass attainment in childhood and adolescence. Peak bone mass (PBM) is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, like diet and exercise. We propose in vitro -based studies to identify how these factors interact to affect peak bone mass. The objective of this proposal is to determine how genetics interacts with two important bone-building environmental factors: bone cell loading and Ca levels. Our central hypothesis is that genetic variation, the anabolic effects of mechanobiology, and calcium are interdependent factors that impact PBM and that it is necessary to identify genes important for maximizing skeletal accrual under different environments. Our rationale is that these studies are needed to provide a scientific foundation for precision medicine directed towards optimizing bone health. Our findings may serve as a foundation for personalized recommendations for lifestyle interventions that maximize bone mass accrual during growth.

(This project is funded with the partnerships of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, the Purdue College of Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Basic Medical Sciences) 

2022

Bridgette (Tonnsen) Kelleher, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience
Department of Psychological Sciences 

co-PI:

Dan Foti, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience
Department of Psychological Sciences 

Project title: “The influence of Health Behaviors and Social Support on Mental Health Treatment Uptake among High-Risk Caregivers during COVID-19”

Caregivers of individuals with disabilities have been profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To identify which treatments are most effective in reducing the mental health impact of the pandemic, we started to design and pilot telemental health treatment protocols, which are being deployed by graduate student clinicians in Purdue’s clinical psychology PhD program. To understand the individual factors that might influence treatment uptake and success, we are also collecting smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment data before, during, and after treatment. The broader goal is to identify the key needs of treatment-seeking caregivers of individuals with severe neurogenetic disorders during COVID-19, and to determine which telehealth-based treatments might be most feasible, acceptable, and effective in addressing these needs. In this project, we will examine how health behaviors and social support – two factors that we can monitor via ecological assessment and are particularly malleable – moderate mental health and treatment success. 

(This project is funded with the partnership of the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology, and Infectious Disease) 

Multi-PI:

Jennifer L. Freeman, Ph.D.

Professor of Toxicology
School of Health Sciences 

Douglas Samuel, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology
Department of Psychological Sciences

Ulrike Dydak, Ph.D.

Professor of Health Sciences
School of Health Sciences

Project title: “Sex Differences in Neurological Outcomes Associated with Agrichemical Exposure in Rural Populations: A Feasibility Study”    

Atrazine is the second most common agricultural herbicide used in the Midwestern US and the leading agricultural contaminant of drinking water. Evidence is growing that atrazine, a recognized endocrine disrupting chemical, also distinctively targets a number of neurotransmitter systems that appears to be sexually dimorphic. The majority of atrazine neurotoxicity studies are in male rodents and primarily report locomotor behavioral alterations. Alternatively, the limited studies that have assessed females indicate nonlocomotor behavioral changes related to anxiety and stress. Recent studies in the Freeman laboratory also confirm sexual dimorphic behavior alterations in zebrafish exposed to atrazine. Families living in rural Midwestern US are at most risk of exposure based on living in close proximity to agricultural fields where atrazine is applied. The goal of this study is to determine sex differences in neurological outcomes associated with agrichemical exposure in rural populations. 

(This project is funded with the partnerships of The Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience and The College of Health and Human Sciences)

Aaron Bowman, Ph.D.

Professor and Head
School of Health Sciences 

co-PI:

Jean-Christophe Rochet, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular PHarmacology

Project title: “Sex Differences in Neuropathology and Excitotoxicity in a Stem Cell Model of Alzheimer’s Disease”    

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder and is the most common cause of dementia. There is a pronounced disproportionality in the incidence of AD, where women comprise two-thirds of all AD cases, many with sharper decline in cognitive function following diagnosis, preventing the opportunity for intervention. However the biological underpinnings responsible for this clinicopathological variability is unknown, hence, there is a critical need to investigate the potential contributions of genetic sex in AD phenotypic variability. Using cortical neurons/astrocytes generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) of neurotypical male and female subjects, this study investigates sex-dependent differences in susceptibility to tau prion-like transmission and glutamate excitotoxicity, as well as sex-based differential capacity in resilience in response to ameliorating effects of estrogen. Findings from this project will increase our understanding of the role that genetic sex plays as a critical variable in disease progression.  

(This project is funded with the partnership of The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute)

2021

Adam Kimbrough, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Basic Medical Sciences

Project title: “Exploring Sex Differences in How the Brain Responds to Oxycodone Use”    

There is evidence of significant sex differences in the way humans abuse oxycodone. Although males are more likely to overdose from opioids, females are more likely to abuse opioids and to use them to cope with negative affective states. This project will explore sex differences in how the brain responds to oxycodone use and identify key brain regions that may be responsible for the motivation for excessive drug use. These studies will help to design specialized treatment profiles for opioid use disorder in the future.

Andrea DeMaria, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Public Health

co-PI:

Monica Kasting, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Health

Project title: “Improving Overall Quality of Life for Uterine Fibroid Patients”    

Uterine fibroids affect 26 million US reproductive-aged women, making it among the most common and costly reproductive health conditions. Although most women are asymptomatic, 25-30% experience symptoms that significantly reduce quality of life, including heavy menstrual bleeding, infertility, and limitations in work/school attendance. There is a significant gap in understanding how uterine fibroids education and care prioritizes the multidimensional aspects of health embedded in a larger socio-ecologic framework that considers individual, relational, communal, and societal factors influencing patient experiences. The goal of the proposed study is to examine the healthcare experiences of uterine fibroids patients across the continuum of care to imporve best practices for a holistic patient-centered approach to uterine fibroids care.

2020

Jacqueline Linnes, Ph.D.

Marta E. Gross Assistant Professor
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering

co-PI:

Sulman Mohammed, Ph.D.

Professor of Cancer Biology, Department of Comparative Pathobiology

Project title: “Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Sensitive and Specific Cervical Cancer Detection”    

Cervical cancer incidence and mortality are five times higher in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) than in high-income countries. This wide disparity is attributed to both higher HPV infection rates and a lack of accessible screening and treatment. This project aims to create an integrated point-of-care test that can be used by healthcare providers in under-resourced settings to obtain relevant clinical insights, including cervical cancer risk stratification, and enable same-visit treatment of high risk cervical lesions.

 

Tzu-Wen L. Cross, PhD., RD 

Assistant Professor
Department of Nutrition Science

Project title: “Gut Microbiome and Estrogen Receptor Signaling: Potential Implication on Gastrointestinal-Related Disease”     

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is significantly more prevalent in women than in men. Gut microbial community significantly differs between IBD patients and non-IBD controls, with IBD patients having lower gut microbial biodiversity and greater pro-inflammatory bacterial taxa. This project describes the use of a translational approach to determine the causal relationship between gut microbial metabolism and estrogen receptor signaling that may pertain to the sex bias in IBD.