Neonatology Research

The Division of Neonatology has very active clinical and laboratory research programs. With more than $7.7 million /year and 20 NIH grants, our research integrates innovative molecular, cellular and genetic studies with clinical and translational sciences to understand and treat diseases of newborns. Our clinical research is facilitated by an extensive clinical and perinatal database that contains over 25,000 patients. A General Clinical Research Center and an NIH-funded Clinical and Translational Research Institute support clinical research and research training. Our basic research is housed in a 5000 square foot research wing that is in close proximity to basic researchers in many other disciplines. More detailed descriptions are available in Neonatology Research Faculty. The four major groupings of our research projects are below.

  • The basic biology of lung development and injury
    • Stem cell precursors in lung development and injury.
    • Effects of hyperoxia on susceptibility to lung infections.
    • Mechanisms of gene transfer and gene therapy.
    • Genomics of lung development and injury.
    • Biomarkers of lung injury.
    • Dynamic extracellular matrix signaling in lung injury.
    • Toxic environmental exposures and lung development and injury.
    • Endothelial cell signaling in lung injury.
    • Cytoskeletal dynamics in lung vascular inflammation and injury.
    • Pulmonary biomechanics, including surfactant biophysics.
  • Neonatal outcomes, including pulmonary follow-up
    • School age pulmonary outcome of neonatal exposure to oxygen.
    • Biomarkers to predict BPD outcome.
    • Neonatal lung autopsy biorepository
    • Viral infections in patients with BPD.
    • Developmental immunology.
  • Injury to the central nervous system, including the eye
    • Inositol to prevent ROP.
    • Treatment of neonatal seizures.
    • Bilirubin encephalopathy.
    • Autism in formerly premature infants.
    • Nutritional and toxic influences on neonatal outcome.
    • Vaccine immunology and viral respiratory infection in premature infants.
    • Neurodevelopmental follow-up of high risk newborns.
  • Clinical and educational research, including high fidelity simulation
    • Line-related infections.
    • Altered dental development in premature infants.
    • Vitamin D and bone mineralization.
    • High fidelity simulation technology for team training.
    • Factors that promote breast feeding.

2010 Abstracts