Bao-Zhu Yang, PhD, research scientist in psychiatry, has been awarded a grant by the National Institute on Drug Abuse for a study related to drug use and HIV.
Project summary: The connection between drug use and HIV is significant because drug use, particularly injection drug use, is a major risk factor for HIV acquisition. Individuals with drug use disorders or those living with HIV/AIDS have been found to experience gut dysbiosis commonly.
The gut, which is considered the body's largest immune organ, harbors trillions of microorganisms that influence how our body responds to neurological and immune challenges or inflammation. Thus, drug use disorders, HIV, gut microbiota, and immune responses form a complex interplay, influencing each other.
To elucidate the causal relationship of HIV acquisition, Yang will leverage genome-wide association studies summary statistics and existing datasets. She aims to identify drug-specific causal effects on HIV risk and immune responses.
She will also investigate genetic correlations among these traits. Furthermore, she will infer the causal mediation relationship among drug use disorders, gut microbiota, and immune responses in HIV risk, providing insights through the assessment of causality and mediation effects.
Yang will collaborate with other Yale researchers. The grant is for two years totaling $359,975.