Research Faculty

Richard Grand, MD

Department Gastroenterology/
Nutrition		 Richard Grand, MD- Gastroenterology/Nutrition at Boston Children's Hospital
Hospital Title: Director, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program
Academic Title: Professor of Pediatrics
Phone: 617-355-2962
Email:  Richard Grand
Location: 300 Longwood Avenue
Enders-6
Boston, MA 02115

Research Overview

Basic research in the Grand laboratory, whose current faculty includes Robert K. Montgomery, PhD, and Stephen D. Krasinski, PhD, is directed at elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the expression of intestinal genes. Understanding the pathways of intestinal gene regulation may offer opportunities to stimulate critical gene expression after intestinal injury.

The researchers' more specific goals are to:

  • Delineate the molecular basis of human lactase persistence and non-persistence. The Grand laboratory first delineated the transcriptional regulation of lactase, which determines the production of the enzyme. The group has shown that complex transcription factor interactions throughout the 5′ flanking region of the lactase gene account for the decline in lactase activity in animals; and it is likely that similar mechanisms regulate the human lactase gene. The group is working to define the molecular basis of the two common human phenotypes -- that in which lactase production declines after age 5-7 and that in which lactase production persists throughout adulthood.
     
  • Define the mechanisms regulating mRNA translocation in intestinal epithelial cells. The Grand laboratory has discovered that the mRNAs for lactase and many proteins of the enterocyte microvillus are localized apically while mRNAs for the cytoskeletal proteins, villin and BBMI, are located basally while their proteins are localized apically in the microvillus membrane. Messenger RNAs encoding cytosolic proteins are not localized.

Dr. Grand's clinical research has focused on growth and nutrition in chronic disease, with a particular emphasis on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), His group was the first to recognize the nutritional basis of growth failure in IBD and to conceptualize a strategy for its therapy. He and Dr. Helen Pappa have recently completed a controlled clinical trial of nasal calcitonin in the treatment of low bone mineral density in children with IBD. With a fellow, Dr. Tyler Burpee, and a collaborator at the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Marianne Wessling-Resnick, he is studying mechanism of reduced iron absorption in IBD. Additionally, with a fellow, Dr. Jessica Lee, he is leading a study of the genetic basis of growth failure in IBD.

About Richard Grand

Richard Grand received his MD from New York University School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency in pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital and fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the National Institutes of Health.

Dr Grand is a member of the National Board of Directors, the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Harry Shwachman Award, North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition; the Murray Davidson Award, American Academy of Pediatrics; the New York University Chapter 2003 Leadership Award, and is an Honorary Alumnus Member, Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA).

Key Publications

  • Semrin G, Fishman DS, Bousvaros A, Zholudev A, Saunders AC, Correia CE, Nemeth E, Grand RJ, Weinstein DA. Impaired Intestinal iron absorption in Crohn's disease correlates with disease activity and markers of inflammation. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2006; 12: 1101-6.
     
  • Pappa HM, Gordon CM, Saslowsky TM, Zholudev A, Horr B, Shih MC, Grand RJ. Vitamin D status in Children and young adults with inflammatory bowel disease. Pediatrics 2006; 5: 1950-61.
     
  • Saeed SA, Integlia MJ, Pleskow RG, Calenda KA, Rohrer RJ, Dayal Y, Grand RJ. Tacrolimus-associated eosinophilic gastroenterocolits in pediatric liver transplant recipients: role of potential food allergies in pathogenesis. Pediatr Transplant; 2006; 10: 730-5.
     
  • Bosse T, Fialkovich JJ, Piaseckyj CM, Beuling E, Broekman H, Grand RJ, Montgomery RK, Krasinski SD. Gata4 and Hnf1-± are partially required for the expression of specific intestinal genes during development. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2007 Feb 1.