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Discovery to Drug Development: Expanding the Role of Academic Centers
 Discovery to Drug Development: Expanding the Role of Academic Centers 1024 575 Abbie Miller
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As more researchers at academic centers become involved in drug development, institutions are responding with support and guidance. Researchers at academic institutions regularly make discoveries about disease processes and potential therapeutic agents. Translational medicine is focused on moving these discoveries out of the laboratory and into the clinic where they can potentially help patients. But…

Why Patients With Diabetes Have More UTIs
 Why Patients With Diabetes Have More UTIs 150 150 Mary Bates, PhD
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Insulin regulates an antimicrobial peptide that is suppressed in patients with diabetes. A recent study led by clinicians and researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital reports a potential explanation for why urinary tract infections (UTIs) are so common in patients with diabetes – insulin regulates an antimicrobial peptide (AMP) that is suppressed in those patients. Patients…

What Do Space Rocks Have to Do With Preterm Birth?
 What Do Space Rocks Have to Do With Preterm Birth? 150 150 Abbie Miller
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A brief history of nanobacteria and their implications for human health. I remember when nanobacteria were a really big deal. Press-conference-by-POTUS-about-evidence-of-extraterrestrial-life-level big deal. I hadn’t thought much about them until recently, when they made a surprise appearance in a presentation on idiopathic preterm birth by Irina Buhimschi, MD, director of the Center for Perinatal Research at The…

Stronger Together: A Multi-institutional Database Is Connecting Down Syndrome Clinics for Better Outcomes
 Stronger Together: A Multi-institutional Database Is Connecting Down Syndrome Clinics for Better Outcomes 1024 575 Stephanie Santoro, MD
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Due to medical advances, people with Down syndrome are living longer than ever before. This increased life expectancy has nearly doubled in the past 25 years. The National Down Syndrome Society estimates that 400,000 people with Down syndrome are living in the United States. Despite this increased life expectancy, little current information on the secondary…

Solving the Problem of Managing Big Genomic Data
 Solving the Problem of Managing Big Genomic Data 150 150 Abbie Miller
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Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital complete a first-of-its-kind project to evaluate a large-scale genomic data management system on the scale of up to one million genomes. The influx of genomics data resulting from the increasing affordability of whole exome/genome sequencing and President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative requires a novel technological solution to data storage, communication…

Best Practices for Research Recruitment and Retention
 Best Practices for Research Recruitment and Retention 1024 575 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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You can’t obtain study data without participants. From initial design and promotion to communication tactics and patient satisfaction, here are some strategies to ensure success. Advancing pediatric research depends on successful recruitment and retention of study participants. Unfortunately, 9 out of 10 trials end up having to double their original timelines in order to meet…

Changing the Game: Virtual Reality Distracts From Pain, Transforming the Patient Experience
 Changing the Game: Virtual Reality Distracts From Pain, Transforming the Patient Experience 844 487 Gina Bericchia
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A first-of-its-kind virtual reality experience from the hemophilia team and design experts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University distracts patients with an immersive environment of penguins, pirates and hermit crabs during infusions and other procedures. A pilot study is testing the feasibility of integrating the virtual reality technology into the clinic setting.…

Oligodendrocytes Induce Motor Neuron Death in ALS
 Oligodendrocytes Induce Motor Neuron Death in ALS 150 150 Jeb Phillips
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A first-of-its-kind oligodendrocyte in vitro model shows that human cells normally supportive of motor neuron function play an active role in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis pathogenesis – and this discovery may point the way toward therapeutic timing and targets. A number of studies over the last decade have shown that cells which normally support motor neurons,…

Specialized Test Detects Bacterial Infections in Youngest Infants with Fever
 Specialized Test Detects Bacterial Infections in Youngest Infants with Fever 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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The diagnostic test has potential to prevent painful testing, unnecessary antibiotics and hospitalizations for many of the more than 500,000 febrile infants who arrive at hospitals each year. Physicians from Children’s Hospital of Michigan, UC Davis Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with 19 other pediatric emergency departments around the country, have established…

Using Whole Exome Sequencing to Find Genetic Cause of Congenital Heart Disease in At-Risk Patients
 Using Whole Exome Sequencing to Find Genetic Cause of Congenital Heart Disease in At-Risk Patients 150 150 Brianne Moore
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Whole exome sequencing has the ability to identify disease-causing mutations, contributing to the development of personalized medicine and bridging a crucial gap between scientific knowledge and clinical application. Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of birth defect, affecting approximately 40,000 births per year in the United States. While some types of CHD…

Study Finds Genetic Loci Associated With Anxiety and Aggression in Dogs: What Does It Mean for Kids?
 Study Finds Genetic Loci Associated With Anxiety and Aggression in Dogs: What Does It Mean for Kids? 150 150 Carlos E. Alvarez, PhD
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Principal investigator Carlos Alvarez, PhD, reports the genome wide mapping of nine fear and aggression traits in dogs and discusses the implications of the findings. Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness in the United States. They are associated with increased risk of schizophrenia, depression, addiction and other psychiatric disorders. While much…

Chromatin’s Role in Cancer Development
 Chromatin’s Role in Cancer Development 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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A new study investigates the role of chromatin containing the histone H3 variant in the centromere region of chromosomes in the development of cancer. Although there are many types of cancer, all cancers have one thing in common: they develop when normal processes in the body break down. Unlike normal cells, cancer cells ignore signals…

Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Describe New Type of Cancer Therapy
 Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Describe New Type of Cancer Therapy 150 150 Abbie Miller
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The new chemotherapy is effective against both pediatric and adult cancers, and it allows other chemotherapies to more readily reach their targets. A study conducted at Nationwide Children’s Hospital has found that a new chemotherapy is effective against both pediatric and adult cancers, and that it allows other chemotherapies to more readily reach their targets.…

An Effective Strategy for Disrupting Bacterial Biofilms
 An Effective Strategy for Disrupting Bacterial Biofilms 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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Using monoclonal antibodies to bind to proteins essential to biofilm structure and stability is highly effective against many types of bacteria that cause a variety of human disease. Biofilms are communities of bacteria that adhere to a surface and are nearly impossible to eradicate when they are pathogenic, or disease-causing. Now, a discovery from the laboratories…

Uncovering Racial Disparities in Down Syndrome
 Uncovering Racial Disparities in Down Syndrome 1024 575 Stephanie Santoro, MD
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Life expectancy for people with Down syndrome varies depending on race, but why? An estimated 6000 infants with Down syndrome (DS) are born in the United States annually, making it the most common liveborn trisomy and chromosomal condition.[1] And a significant increase in overall life expectancy has been noted over the last several decades.[2] However,…

Achieving CLARITY
 Achieving CLARITY 1024 575 Abbie Miller
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conceptual art of DNA

Multidisciplinary team from Nationwide Children’s wins international genomics competition. Accurate, patient-centered, comprehensive. That’s how the judges and leaders of the CLARITY Undiagnosed Challenge described the work of a team from Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Those same words could be used to describe the highly motivated and diverse team who surprised themselves by winning the challenge. “When we entered the challenge, we knew we would…

Simulating Surgery With High-Performance Computing
 Simulating Surgery With High-Performance Computing 1024 575 Abbie Miller
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By applying high-performance computing to the field of otolaryngology, a team of researchers is developing a simulation environment for teaching surgical techniques related to the temporal bone. The purpose of training — whether a fire drill or practicing a surgical technique — is to create successes and avoid failures. “The impact of training is safety…

Signaling Pathway Changes May Flag CAVD, Offer Target for Therapies
 Signaling Pathway Changes May Flag CAVD, Offer Target for Therapies 150 150 Kevin Mayhood
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Loss of TgfB1 from the endothelium leads to a reduction in Sox9 expression and valve calcification. A team of researchers has identified a molecular signaling pathway that, when altered, can contribute to calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD). The finding may provide a method for early diagnosis — many patients don’t learn they have the disease until it’s in the final…

The Journey to a Program Project Grant
 The Journey to a Program Project Grant 1024 575 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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Recommendations from a multi-institutional research team who persevered to obtain a P01 to develop a vaccine for RSV. In 2015, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a $6.75 million program project grant to Mark Peeples, PhD, Octavio Ramilo, MD, and M. Asuncion Mejias, MD, PhD, all principal investigators in the Center for Vaccines and Immunity at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s…

Vaccine Fails to Reactivate Immunity to Hepatitis C Virus
 Vaccine Fails to Reactivate Immunity to Hepatitis C Virus 150 150 Abbie Miller
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T cells remain inactivated even after immunization in subjects with persistent, controlled infections. Two papers recently published in Hepatology uncovered evidence of permanent immune system damage after hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The studies used a vaccine currently in clinical trials to attempt to restore immunity against HCV in animal models and humans with chronic HCV infection. “In chronic HCV, CD8+…

Researchers Find Signatures of Rhinovirus Infection and Incidental Presence
 Researchers Find Signatures of Rhinovirus Infection and Incidental Presence 150 150 Kevin Mayhood
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Transcriptional profiling may speed discrimination between the two, aiding in clinical decisions. Transcriptional profiling, measuring the activity of thousands of genes at once to create a snapshot of cellular function, may make quick work of discriminating between active rhinovirus infection and incidental virus detection — and improve clinical decisions — researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital…

Boosting Research With a Down Syndrome Biobank
 Boosting Research With a Down Syndrome Biobank 150 150 Abbie Miller
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A new biobank for Down syndrome blood samples will enable clinical and translational researchers everywhere to shed light on conditions related to Down syndrome, including Alzheimer’s disease. Certain conditions such as congenital heart disease, childhood leukemia and epilepsy are more common in patients with Down syndrome than in the general population. Other conditions, including solid…

Genetic Testing for Pediatric Epilepsy Can Be Complicated but Beneficial
 Genetic Testing for Pediatric Epilepsy Can Be Complicated but Beneficial 150 150 Gina Bericchia
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Application of genetic testing in pediatric epilepsy requires understanding of the advantages and limitations of testing modalities The use of genetic testing in pediatric epilepsy is complicated and the list of known epilepsy genes changes almost daily. The steps from a doctor initially evaluating a patient when they first demonstrate the symptoms of epilepsy to genetic diagnosis…

Better Care and Better Business
 Better Care and Better Business 150 150 Dave Ghose
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The changing economics of health care are forcing hospitals to find solutions that are good for patients and for the bottom line. A puzzled neonatologist approached Richard McClead, MD, after he spoke at a conference in Boston. It was 2010, and Dr. McClead just finished detailing a new initiative at Nationwide Children’s Hospital to reduce the…

Revealing the Secrets of Sepsis
 Revealing the Secrets of Sepsis 969 533 Abbie Miller
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Illustration of NK Cells, T Cells, other immune cells floating across white background

Charting new territory in the understanding of how the immune system responds to sepsis. Two children are admitted to the hospital with sepsis. Both receive antibiotics and fluid resuscitation within the critical first hour. Why does one get better after the initial crisis while the other goes on to develop additional infections and multiple organ…

Sickle Cell Disease: Global Disparities in Prevalance and Outcomes
 Sickle Cell Disease: Global Disparities in Prevalance and Outcomes 150 150 Abbie Miller
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Unique challenges exist for people with sickle cell disease depending on where they live. An estimated 300,000 to 500,000 babies worldwide are born with sickle cell disease (SCD) each year. In Africa and India, where SCD is most prevalent, newborn testing is not performed, and many children with sickle cell disease die before they are…

Severely Obese by Kindergarten: What’s a Doctor to Do?
 Severely Obese by Kindergarten: What’s a Doctor to Do? 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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The numbers of children and adolescents with severe obesity have continued to rise in the past 30 years, but only a few centers provide evidence-based care for severe childhood obesity. Childhood obesity affects 17 percent of children in the United States, and nearly one-third of these children are severely obese. The prevalence rates of children…

Taking a Closer Look at the Relationship Between Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease
 Taking a Closer Look at the Relationship Between Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease 1024 575 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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A new study reveals surprising results regarding vascular stiffness of coronary microvessels in the presence of type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic condition that affects the glucose metabolism as a result of insulin resistance. Patients with T2DM are two to four times more likely to have a heart attack than non-diabetic patients.…

Adolescents, Young Adults and Cancer: What Are the Issues?
 Adolescents, Young Adults and Cancer: What Are the Issues? 150 150 Abbie Miller
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Adolescents and young adults with cancer have unique needs that may explain their plateau in survival rates, despite improved survival rates in other age groups. At an age when achieving independence and experiencing life milestones are most important, adolescents and young adults facing a cancer diagnosis must meet unique challenges. These challenges may contribute to…

A Watershed Moment for Cancer Virotherapy
 A Watershed Moment for Cancer Virotherapy 150 150 Timothy Cripe, MD, PhD
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A recent decision may define the future of virotherapy’s role in the clinical treatment of cancer. At 4:50 pm on Wednesday, April 29 2015, the votes were cast: 22 in favor, 1 against. With this overwhelming majority, an advisory committee sent a clear message to the FDA recommending the first marketing approval for a live virus cancer…

Crohn’s Disease Not Exempt From Racial Disparities
 Crohn’s Disease Not Exempt From Racial Disparities 150 150 Gina Bericchia
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Disparities exist among pediatric Crohn’s patients of different races for a number of health care metrics. A study published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases found significant differences in hospital readmissions, medication usage and both medical and surgical complications of children with Crohn’s disease related to race. In the study, black children had a 1.5 times higher frequency…

Technology Expands Access to Translational Medicine
 Technology Expands Access to Translational Medicine 150 150 Abbie Miller
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When primary care physicians, specialists and all the lab work in their arsenal fail to provide a diagnosis for debilitating symptoms, patients earn the label of “undiagnosed.” These undiagnosed patients wait with unresolved symptoms for medical research to catch up with them. The Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP) at the National Institutes of Health sees 120-150 previously undefined…

Orphan Disease Seeks Parents, Funding
 Orphan Disease Seeks Parents, Funding 1024 575 Kevin Mayhood
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Color photo, family portrait of Reagan, a young girl with an orphan disease, her parents, and their dog

Research on rare pediatric diseases often remains underfunded and obscure until motivated families give scientists — and their own children — a much-needed shot at potential therapies worthy of federal funding. Reagan McGee’s pediatrician couldn’t figure out why she had cold after cold. Her parents, Karin and Peter McGee, took her to an ear, nose and…

Fighting Fibrosis
 Fighting Fibrosis 1024 575 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Colorful illustration showing how fibrosis, or a spiky lumpy mass of scar tissue, forms over healthy liver tissue when the liver attempts to repair and replace damaged cells

Fibrosis is an unmet medical challenge with no satisfactory test and insufficient therapy. Now, one naturally occurring cellular component could simultaneously diagnose and heal patients. It’s much more than a million-dollar idea. The person who invents a simple blood or urine test that can accurately measure the severity of scarring in internal organs will have…

Preserving Biopreservation
 Preserving Biopreservation 1024 575 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Funding challenges, operational complexity and poor visibility threaten the field of human tissue biobanking. How sustainable are biorepositories? The Children’s Oncology Group (COG) boasts the collaboration of more than 9,000 pediatric cancer experts. They treat patients and research disease at more than 200 hospitals around the world. Nine out of every 10 U.S. children with cancer receive…

Conflicting Directions for BPD Treatment
 Conflicting Directions for BPD Treatment 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia differs dramatically among institutions. But why does variation matter? Recent studies report extreme variation among hospitals ordering three common medications for chronic lung disease, or bronchopulmonary dysplasia, calling into question the appropriateness of their use and the reason for their prescription. “In the use of diuretics, inhaled bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids,…

Placental Transfusion Confusion
 Placental Transfusion Confusion 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Medical professional organizations cannot reach consensus regarding delayed cord clamping and umbilical cord “milking.” Nearly every relevant professional organization has its own recommendations for placental transfusion techniques known as delayed umbilical cord clamping and milking. But it’s unclear whether additional research will lead to consensus. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American Academy of Pediatrics say there’s…

Beyond the Basics: Enrolling Children in Research
 Beyond the Basics: Enrolling Children in Research 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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The ethics of pediatric research include far more than the concepts of autonomy and assent. Consent and assent. Competence and autonomy. Physicians are familiar with the catchphrases of ethical research, but the deeper researchers dig, the more they find that the field’s current understanding of the dimensions involved in pediatric investigations is still shallow. Numerous…

Study Finds Cow’s Milk is Added to Breast Milk and Sold to Parents Online
 Study Finds Cow’s Milk is Added to Breast Milk and Sold to Parents Online 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Deceptive Internet advertisements for human breast milk may put infants at risk. What do parents (and doctors) need to know about milk sharing? A study published yesterday on the safety of human breast milk bought over the Internet found that 10 percent of samples contained added cow’s milk. The discovery that purchased samples of human milk may…

Are We Properly Capturing the Maternal-Child Health Continuum?
 Are We Properly Capturing the Maternal-Child Health Continuum? 150 150 Irina Buhimschi
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An obstetrician doing research at a children’s hospital may seem out of place. But not according to one clinician-scientist, who believes that maternal health and child health are inextricably intertwined. Traditionally, doctors divide into those who practice adult medicine and those who practice pediatrics. With the exception of family physicians, there is little crossover in…

Advancing Pediatric Anesthesiology Through Research
 Advancing Pediatric Anesthesiology Through Research 150 150 Joseph Tobias, MD
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Pediatric anesthesiology research is a relatively new phenomenon. But one clinician-scientist believes it is the key to bringing the field into the “big leagues” of evidence-based medicine. Over the past 30 years, the field of pediatric anesthesiology has expanded with the recognition of the need for specialized training, the development of fellowship programs and, most…

Big Data: Ride the Bandwagon, Sell Hot Dogs at the Show, or Jump Out of the Way?
 Big Data: Ride the Bandwagon, Sell Hot Dogs at the Show, or Jump Out of the Way? 150 150 William Ray, PhD
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Big Data has big potential. But can it truly tell you what you want to know? Big Data. It’s all the rage, and if you listen to the hype, you might get the impression that it’s going to cure cancer, bring about world peace and clean your kitchen while it’s at it. All the cool…

Bacterial or Viral? New Technique to Clear Muddy Waters
 Bacterial or Viral? New Technique to Clear Muddy Waters 150 150 Jan Arthur
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Transcriptional profiling could help reduce inappropriate administration of antibiotics for lower respiratory infections in hospitalized patients. Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are one of the most frequent reasons for hospitalization in adults and children worldwide. However, in most cases, establishing the cause of the infection is challenging and many patients undergo unnecessary treatment with antibiotics…

Speeding Up the Genome Analysis Process
 Speeding Up the Genome Analysis Process 150 150 Jan Arthur
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New software analyzes human genomes faster than other available technologies, empowering population-scale genomic analysis. Investigators at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have developed an analysis “pipeline” that slashes the time it takes to search a person’s genome for disease-causing variations from weeks to hours. An article describing the ultra-fast, highly scalable software was published in the latest…

How to Build and Lead a Successful Medical Department
 How to Build and Lead a Successful Medical Department 150 150 V. Rama Jayanthi, MD
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Fostering an environment that supports evidence-based medicine, professional development and equal footing for clinician-researchers is a critical challenge for medical leadership. You can spot the collaborative leader because he’s rejected the heroic, solitary model of leadership. He doesn’t try to dominate his organization as its all-seeing visionary, leading idea generator and controlling intelligence. Instead, he…

Building the Modern-Day Vaccine
 Building the Modern-Day Vaccine 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Vaccine development used to be straightforward. Now, the challenges are many and the successes are few. What will it take to overcome the obstacles presented by both immunology and society? For 160 years, vaccine after vaccine succeeded at safely and effectively preventing its targeted illness using a set of standard strategies. Scientists knew they simply…

Body, Heal Thyself: Harnessing Our Innate Immunity
 Body, Heal Thyself: Harnessing Our Innate Immunity 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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What the urinary tract’s front-line defenses can teach us about our innate ability to self-heal …. and thwart antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is on the rise, health care-acquired infections are becoming harder to treat and even simple infectious illnesses account for billions of dollars per year in spending in the United States alone. As with…

Using Zinc for Growth Delays in Babies Born Preterm
 Using Zinc for Growth Delays in Babies Born Preterm 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Zinc supplementation in extremely low birth-weight (ELBW) infants with chronic lung disease improves weight gain and linear growth, according to a retrospective study performed at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The study is one of the first to look at the association between zinc supplementation and growth in ELBW babies with chronic lung disease, also known as bronchopulmonary dysplasia.…