DNAm Aging Clocks & EWAS

DNAm clocks and EWAS as biomarkers of aging and exposure response.

Brief

Epigenomic profiling provides complementary biomarkers of biological aging and environmental response. My projects integrate DNA methylation (DNAm) clocks with epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) to uncover how exposures accelerate aging and influence health outcomes across the lifecourse.

DNAm Clocks in Lifecourse Health

  • Radiation & DNAm clocks
    Extends my published work on telomere length and space weather in the Normative Aging Study (JESEE 2023). Evaluating whether DNAm clocks detect similar radiation-linked aging signatures.

  • Reproductive aging & DNAm clocks
    Follow-up to my menopause and lung health study (AJOG 2022). Testing whether DNAm clocks capture accelerated biological aging in women with early menopause.

  • Environment chemical exposures & DNAm aging
    Manuscript under review. Investigates associations between chemical exposures and accelerated DNAm aging.

EWAS of Environmental & Lifestyle Exposures

  • Air pollution, smoking, and other exposures
    Ongoing analyses to identify exposure-linked CpG and region changes and pathway enrichment.

Foundations in Methylation Research

  • Occupational cohort (bachelor’s thesis): Carbon black exposure, DNA methylation, and lung function impairment in Chinese diesel workers.
  • Summer internship at Yale (poster): Hepatic epigenomic changes in a mouse model of oxidative stress (glutathione deficiency). (Abstract)

Status

All DNAm clock and EWAS projects are in preparation/under review. Together, this body of work reflects a sustained focus on epigenomics, now advancing toward integrated biomarkers of aging and exposure.