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In May, the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), of which Children's Hospital Boston is a member, got word that it had been funded by the NIH's National Center for Research Resources. The Harvard center (which includes the University, Harvard Medical School and all of the major hospitals and institutes that make up the Harvard Medical community) was one of 14 centers funded nationwide; they join 24 existing CTSA centers.
The CTSAs share knowledge, expertise and resources to more effectively and efficiently study diseases and look for their cures. It also provides significant funding to help develop the careers of young investigators
interested in clinical and translational research. For Children's, the national pediatric consortium of CTSA sites means a much-enhanced ability to study rare
pediatric diseases. The Harvard CTSA replaced all four of the Harvard-affiliated General Clinical Research Center grants, effective June 1.
Also, Children's Translational Research Program (TRP), which is headed by David Williams, MD, chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, and Judy Fleming, PhD, associate director of Translational Research, awarded its first grants to fund two core facilities and nine individual projects. The mission of the TRP is to stimulate the development of non-clinical and human clinical trials that seek to improve the care of children.
The core facility winners were Elizabeth Engle, MD, senior associate in Neurology, for "Phenotyping and Banking Core of Neurological Disorders;" and Ellis Neufeld, MD, PhD, associate chief of Hematology/Oncology, for "Human Tissue Repository Core in Hematology/Oncology" In addition to the seed grants, the TRP announced the Translational Research Retreat program, which will provide funds for multidisciplinary retreats to help stimulate interactions between
members of the basic and clinical research communities.
The individual winners were: Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, attending in Hematology/Oncology, for "Reversal of Glucocorticoid Resistance in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia;" Joyce Bischoff, PhD, from the Vascular Biology Program, for "Stem/Progenitor Cell That Recapitulates Infantile Hemangioma;" Gabriel Corfas, PhD, from Neurology, for "GDNF Receptor Agonists to Treat Peripheral Neuropathies;" Robert Husson, MD, associate in Infectious Diseases, for "Proteome-wide Screen for M. Tuberculosis Antigens;" Richard Malley, MD, assistant in Infectious Diseases, for "A Transcutaneous Vaccine to Prevent Pneumococcal Colonization and Disease;" Benjamin Matthews, PhD, from the Vascular Biology Program, for "Microparticles with TRPV4 Inhibitor for Lung Protection;" Umut Ozcan, MD, from Endocrinology, for "The Role of ER Stress in Development of Leptin Resistance;" Mark Puder, MD, PhD, associate in Surgery, for "The Essentiality of Archidonic Acid, Docosahexaaenoic Acid;" and Leslie Silberstein, MD, senior associate in Laboratory Medicine, for "Novel Approaches in Targeting Pediatric B-ALL."
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