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Thanks in part to generous philanthropic support from the Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation, the Colorado Child Health Research Institute (CCHRI) expanded its internal awards this spring, boasting the largest commitment to child health researchers to date. In the first half of 2024, the institute supported ten investigators, including several early-career researchers, with nearly $1.5 million in funding. The Foundation contributed 30% to that record-breaking number.
This funding supports researchers through several different awards. The annual Research and Innovation Scholar Awards (RISA) are designed to support early-stage child health investigators in their first faculty position. CCHRI offered two additional investigators a RISA this year thanks to funding from the Foundation through the new Bruce and Bev Wagner Family RISA. Further, CCHRI awarded the Marilyn Hodges Wilmerding Research Pilot Award thanks to philanthropic funding to support new ideas in research studies.
“The Research and Innovation Scholar Awards have had a tremendous impact in building the research base of child health at Children’s Hospital Colorado,” says Fred Suchy, MD, Children’s Colorado’s Senior Research Strategist. “This program has supported the career development of some of our most talented young investigators who have used these funds to generate preliminary data for a grant submission to the NIH and other agencies. The return on investment has been impressive as judged by the quality of their publications and success in obtaining extramural support for their research.”
Spring 2024 RISA recipients
The six RISA recipients come from across the various specialties at Children’s Colorado, and the focus of their research ranges from echocardiography to chronic liver disease.
Jennifer Romanowicz, MD
“Identifying Novel Imaging and Serum Biomarkers of Fontan Failure: A Metabolic Approach”
Dr. Romanowicz is a pediatric cardiologist who specializes in imaging techniques like echocardiography and MRI to diagnose and treat heart conditions in infants and children with complex congenital heart disease. Her research study involves the use of a novel MRI-based technique to study oxygen delivery and usage in children with single ventricle heart disease (SVHD) compared to those with normal heart function.
The RISA will provide funding for Dr. Romanowicz to develop the MRI tool, validate its effectiveness and gather foundational data for future large-scale studies. This will help us better understand the mechanisms behind SVHD, potentially leading to new treatments and better management strategies for SVHD patients.
Kathleen Hannan, MD, MSCS
“Longitudinal Assessment of Parent-Preferred Outcomes of Preterm Infants During Transition from NICU Hospitalization to Home: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study”
Dr. Hannan is a neonatologist and health services researcher who is dedicated to improving health outcomes for high-risk infants and their families. Dr. Hannan’s research study will look at the transition from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to home, aiming to develop and implement family-centered follow-up programs for high-risk infants.
The RISA will provide funding for Dr. Hannan to better understand parent-preferred outcomes at the time of NICU discharge and after several months at home, leading to the creation of innovative programs.
Julia Boster, MD, MSCS
"Assessing Skeletal Muscle Mitochondrial Function and Protein Metabolism to Determine Mechanisms of Sarcopenia in Children With Chronic Liver Disease”
Dr. Boster specializes in pediatric gastroenterology and transplant hepatology at Children's Hospital Colorado. She’s focused on improving care for children with chronic liver disease through clinical and translational research. Dr. Boster’s research study will investigate the mechanism of sarcopenia, or muscle wasting, in children with chronic liver disease.
The RISA will provide funding for Dr. Boster to understand why children with liver disease develop muscle wasting and establish reliable methods for assessing muscle mass using ultrasound, a non-invasive and cost-effective tool. This will establish a foundation to ultimately improve clinical outcomes by diagnosing and treating sarcopenia in children with liver disease.
Nicole Poole, MD, MPH
“Development of a Novel Communication Tool Designed to Improve Clinician-Caregiver Interactions Surrounding Antibiotic Prescribing Decisions for Pediatric Respiratory Illnesses in Primary Care Clinics”
Dr. Poole’s research addresses the critical issue of antibiotic overuse in children by enhancing communication between clinicians and caregivers during primary care visits for respiratory illnesses.
The RISA provides funding to develop a novel tool for caregivers designed to address the complex factors influencing caregiver expectations for antibiotics. By improving clinician-caregiver interactions, the tool aims to mitigate perceived pressure that leads to antibiotic overprescribing. Diverse caregiver groups, such as Black, Latino and Spanish-speaking individuals, will directly contribute to the development of the tool to foster informed, equitable and collaborative decision-making. This will ultimately promote judicious antibiotic use.
Stephanie Gilley, MD, PhD
“Interactions Between Impaired Intestinal Development and Gut Microbial Succession in Fetal Growth Restriction”
Dr. Gilley is a pediatric nutrition physician focused on understanding how prenatal nutrition exposures and early childhood feeding practices interact to influence long-term health.
Dr. Gilley’s project, funded by the new Bruce and Bev Wagner Family RISA, will test the effect of fetal growth restriction (FGR) caused by maternal undernutrition on development of the intestine and gut microbiome. She’ll also examine the reciprocal relationship between the intestine and gut microbiome after FGR to test how impaired development of one may influence function and development of the other. She’s particularly interested in the gut microbiome since it’s an important and modifiable factor that contributes to intestinal function and systemic health and has been understudied in FGR.
Brad Constant, MD, MSCS
"Personalizing Biologic Selection in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease”
Dr. Constant’s study will focus on creating a validated database across multiple centers to power research comparing treatment strategies for children with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).
The Bruce and Bev Wagner Family RISA will provide funding to support building a large multicenter cohort comprised of validated granular IBD-specific data to be used in comparative effectiveness research. It will also use machine learning techniques to build predictive models that will help inform physicians which medication to use for each unique patient. This research will be the initial step in expanding this work to additional medications, institutions and research questions to break through the current therapeutic ceiling of IBD medications and improve the care of children with IBD.
Spring 2024 Marilyn Hodges Wilmerding Research Pilot Award recipient
Another new award from the CCHRI made possible by a generous donor is the Marilyn Hodges Wilmerding Research Pilot Award.
Santos Franco, PhD
“Identifying Intrinsic and Extrinsic Mechanisms of Tumor Growth Using a New In Utero Electroporation Model of Pediatric Glioma”
Dr. Franco’s research is focused on defining the mechanisms that control development and function of neural circuits in the brain and to understand how defects in this process lead to brain dysfunction and neurological disease. Pediatric high-grade gliomas, such as diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs), are childhood brain cancers that are particularly aggressive and deadly, accounting for nearly half of all deaths caused by pediatric brain tumors. Generating an animal model of DMG tumor development will be extremely valuable for understanding how to better treat and eventually prevent tumor formation in children.
Dr. Franco’s study will use state-of-the-art genetic techniques in mice to model developmental origins and timescale growth of DMG tumors. Dr. Franco will also study how the environment in the developing brain contributes to disease progression. These models will provide valuable tools for future genetic and preclinical studies of this devastating disease.
Spring 2024 Child Health Research Bridge Funding Supplement Award recipient
The Bridge funding program is designed to support full-time faculty members with funding while they re-apply for additional financial support.
Andra Dingman, MD
“Microglia-Oligodendrocyte Cross-Talk in White Matter Plasticity After Neonatal Stroke”
Dr. Dingman is exploring potential targets to improve overall functional recovery after neonatal stroke. Her research focuses on the subacute and chronic postinjury periods at clinically relevant post-injury timepoints. Dr. Dingman’s research looks at improving chronic white matter plasticity and repair after neonatal stroke that may lead to development of therapeutics with a prolonged treatment time window to improve functional outcomes.
The objective of her study is to determine how persistent activation of microglia, the immune cells of the brain, influences behavior of cells called oligodendrocytes, which are responsible for forming myelin around axons in white matter. She proposes that signals between microglia and oligodendrocytes after neonatal stroke limit normal myelination during development. This research study is significant in that it’s expected to expand understanding of how early ischemic insult influences chronic white matter development and plasticity.
Children's Hospital Colorado - University of Colorado/School of Mines Collaboration Pilot Awards recipients
This award supports a partnership between a Children's Hospital Colorado and University of Colorado investigator with a School of Mines investigator. The duo will design a pilot project that will likely garner extramural support in the future, advance scientific knowledge applicable to child health and strengthen the collaboration between institutions.
Scott Sagel, MD, PhD
“Enhancing Mucosal Transport for Nucleic Acid Delivery in Genetic Disorders of Impaired Mucociliary Clearance via Molecular Engineering of Bottlebrush Polymers”
Dr. Sagel is partnering with Ramyra Kumar, PhD, an assistant professor in chemical and biological engineering at Colorado School of Mines, on this pilot study. Dr. Sagel’s research focuses on advancing knowledge to help people with cystic fibrosis (CF) and primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), and Dr. Kumar’s lab specializes in developing specialized materials called polymers as vehicles to deliver genetic material such as RNA, DNA and genes into cells.
Drs. Sagel and Kumar will collaborate to better understand the properties of thick mucus and to engineer polymers that can penetrate the mucus and improve delivery of inhaled gene-based therapeutics to the airways of people with CF, PCD and other lung diseases characterized by chronic bronchitis and pus in the airways.
Adam Green, MD
“Translation of openIVIS — Preclinical Imaging of Tumor Dynamics”
Preclinical models allow cancer researchers to test new treatments to determine which will be most effective before bringing them to clinical trials, assuring that only the treatments most likely to be safe and effective reach patients. Bioluminescence imaging allows researchers to follow treatment responses in preclinical models over time. However, the machines needed to conduct this imaging are expensive and often out of reach for smaller institutions.
Researchers at the Colorado School of Mines have developed a much less expensive alternative to bring bioluminescence imaging within reach for many more institutions. In this collaborative project with Children’s Colorado’s Dr. Green, the team will use pediatric cancer preclinical models at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to determine how this new alternative compares to the current standard machines at following cancer progress and treatment response.
