MSU researchers study impact of epigenetic aging on birth outcomes in Detroit

May 16, 2025

In the United States, Black women are twice as likely as White women to have preterm births, increasing the risk of infant deaths and long-term disabilities. In Michigan, Black women had 2,740 preterm births in 2023 according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Dawn Misra, PhD, chair of the College of Human Medicine’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, wanted to figure out why.

So, Misra and Jaime Slaughter-Acey, PhD, a former MSU post-doctoral student and now an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, applied for a highly competitive federal grant. They were delighted when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) approved the grant. They began enrolling women in Detroit for the study and gathering data.

In March, more than halfway through the study, they received an email from the NIH.

“This award no longer effectuates agency priorities,” it said. “Research programs based primarily on artificial and non-scientific categories, including amorphous equity objectives, are antithetical to the scientific inquiry, do nothing to expand our knowledge of living systems, provide low returns on investment, and ultimately do not enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness.”

Misra was more than disappointed. She was worried about the women and their babies who could have benefited from the research.

She also was puzzled, because the grant application had received highly positive comments from independent scientists appointed by the NIH to review the application. The NIH’s National Institute on Aging had awarded the team a prestigious RO1 grant of $3 million.

“This was completely deflating and discouraging that someone who has nothing to do with science can say that our work is unscientific,” Misra said. “We were doing this study for a reason. Sure, it’s going to be harder to do our research, but it’s really harming this community.”

The team already had enrolled nearly 600 Metro Detroit-area women in the study. The women had filled out extensive questionnaires, allowed the researchers to view their medical records, and provided blood samples for analysis – all with the hope of improving birth outcomes for Black women and their babies.

“We’re studying people’s lives, Black women’s lives,” said Mercedes Price, whose job as research coordinator was terminated after the NIH cancelled the grant.

Price, herself, had experienced two high-risk pregnancies. As a doula, providing physical, emotional, and informational support to women during pregnancy and after childbirth, she knows well the challenges pregnant Black women face.

“What medical study isn’t aimed at helping people?” she asked. “I know how to help people. That’s why I became a doula and a researcher. That’s why I do what I do.”

Black women traditionally have been understudied, Misra said, leaving some with the impression that adverse birth outcomes could be due to genetics.

“We and others suspected that genes alone weren’t going to answer the question,” Misra said. “What else could it be? There are a lot of things that could be having an impact.”

Her team began looking at environmental factors, including life experiences, which can change how genes work, a field called epigenetics. The team considered where the women were born and raised and the impact of factors such as food insecurity, poverty and racism, which can induce stress. Stress can cause “epigenetic aging,” which accelerates the aging process and may contribute to preterm births, Misra said.

Michigan keeps a repository of blood spots from every baby born in the state. From each of the women in the study, the researchers obtained their blood spots and then drew new blood samples to compare for signs of epigenetic aging. The team had gathered more than 1,000 blood samples and bought reagents, the compounds used in blood tests (at a cost of $250 each), when the NIH cancelled the grant.

“Here’s the sad part,” Misra said. “We are left with all these samples, and we can’t do the laboratory work to understand how these mothers’ life experiences affected their health in ways that impact birth outcomes,” she said.

In recent months, countless medical studies across the country have been similarly halted as researchers received emails cancelling billions of dollars in grants. The team now is applying for other funding from private foundations and philanthropists.

“The study isn’t stopped, but the funding is,” Misra said. “Our priority now is getting all the laboratory work done."

“The real damage,” she said, “is we’re starting to understand these things, and that could lead to interventions that could improve birth outcomes.” If preterm births for Black women was the same rate as White women in Michigan, Misra believes there could be approximately 1,600 fewer preterm births for Black families each year.

Despite the challenges, Misra and her research colleagues remain dedicated to working with mothers in Detroit and improving the health of Black families for future generations.  

By Pat Shellenbarger

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