The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health has awarded a five-year, $2.4 million R01 grant to Dr. Jiahui Ding, assistant professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine's C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development, to investigate how viral infections during pregnancy reprogram the developing immune system of the fetus, according to a July 29 announcement.
The research aims to uncover mechanisms by which maternal viral infections affect fetal immune development, particularly when the fetus is not directly infected. The project, titled "Placental Responses to Maternal Viral Infection Drive Sex-Dimorphic Offspring Immune Reprogramming," will focus on how the placenta mediates communication between mother and fetus in response to infection.
Dr. Ding said, "In this project, we will investigate how the placenta responds to maternal viral infection, how those signals affect developing fetal immune cells, and why these effects can be different between males and females. Ultimately, we hope to better understand how infections during pregnancy can influence immune health later in life and identify potential ways to protect fetal development." Preliminary findings from Ding's laboratory indicate that placental inflammatory pathways may function differently depending on fetal sex.
The team will examine placental inflammasome activation—especially IL-1β signaling—and its impact on fetal hematopoietic stem cell development using advanced methods such as single-cell transcriptomics and organ-on-chip models. The findings are expected to provide insights into why males and females differ in their responses following prenatal viral exposure.
"Congratulations to Dr. Jiahui Ding on earning her first NIH R01 award, an outstanding milestone for a promising early-career investigator," said School of Medicine Dean Dr. Wael Sakr. "This remarkable achievement reflects both her exceptional scientific talent and the collaborative research environment at the C.S. Mott Center... We are proud of her success and look forward to the important discoveries that will emerge from this outstanding work." Dr. Gil Mor also said that understanding sexual dimorphism in disease susceptibility is central for future precision medicine strategies.
Dr. Ezemenari Obasi said, "Dr. Ding's research has the potential to prevent lifelong health challenges in children who have been exposed to infections before birth... I look forward to the impact this research will have in our community and beyond."
