Grants

Uncovering Causal Protein Markers to Characterize Pancreatic Cancer Etiology and Improve Risk Prediction
Funding Agency: NIH / National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Grant Number: 1U01CA293883
Role: MPI (Contact MPI: Lang Wu)
Period: 09/18/2024 – 08/31/2029
Description: Addressing the limited understanding of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) etiology, this project aims to identify novel causal protein biomarkers by integrating large-scale proteomic data with genetic information using advanced methods like Proteome-Wide Association Studies (PWAS) and Mendelian Randomization (MR). Identified markers will undergo functional validation, and the findings will be used to develop improved, multi-ancestry risk prediction models for PDAC.

Uncovering causal protein markers to improve prostate cancer etiology understanding and risk prediction in Africans and Europeans
Funding Agency: NIH / National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Grant Number: R01 CA263494
Role: MPI (Contact PI: Lang Wu)
Period: 07/01/2022 – 06/30/2027
Description: This study aims to improve the understanding of prostate cancer (PCa) etiology and risk prediction, particularly addressing disparities across Africans and Europeans. It involves: 1) identifying putative causal protein biomarkers using novel statistical methods and large-scale proteomic data; 2) functionally characterizing top biomarkers; and 3) developing and validating enhanced ethnic-specific and pan-ethnic prediction models incorporating these protein markers.

Novel Statistical Methods for Multi-omics Data Integration in Alzheimer's Disease
Funding Agency: NIH / National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Grant Number: R03 AG070669
Role: Contact PI (Co-MPI: Jonathan Bradley)
Period: 01/01/2021 – 12/31/2022
Description: Developed new methods and software for Transcriptome-Wide Association Studies (TWAS) and applied them to Alzheimer’s disease research.

Novel Machine Learning Methods for Alzheimer’s Disease
Funding Agency: Florida State University (Committee on Faculty Research Support - COFRS)
Grant Number: N/A
Role: PI
Period: 05/07/2020 – 08/06/2020
Description: Seed grant supporting the generation of preliminary results for subsequent NIH grant proposals.

Novel Statistical Methods for Transcriptome-wide Association Studies
Funding Agency: Florida State University (First Year Assistant Professor Grant - FYAP)
Grant Number: N/A
Role: PI
Period: 05/08/2019 – 08/06/2019
Description: Seed grant supporting the development and publication of two TWAS-related papers.