This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), provides $645,034 to the University of Pittsburgh to leverage whole genome sequencing and functional genomic characterization to improve gene discovery for non-syndromic cleft lip and palate (NSCLP). The key objectives are to: (1) integrate gene- and variant-based analyses to determine the genetic architecture underlying...
This federal Project Grant award of $129,420.00 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), will fund research by The Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford University) to advance the understanding and treatment of cleft palate bone regeneration. The key focus of the research is to: Investigate how differences in skeletal stem cell subpopulations and bone morphogenetic protein receptor...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research (CFDA 93.121) program, provides $205,000 to The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to study the effects of the oral microbiome on adverse outcomes in pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) recipients. The key objectives are to determine the relationship between dental treatment, the cariogenic oral microbiome,...
This Project Grant award of $606,296 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), will develop advanced 3D growth models of the craniofacial complex using state-of-the-art cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging. The models will incorporate a large, racially/ethnically diverse database of 40,000 CBCT images to analyze craniofacial growth patterns across age, sex, race, ethnicity, facial type,...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), will provide $161,644 to Seattle Children's Hospital to conduct a multifaceted investigation of speech outcomes following maxillary advancement surgery in adolescents and young adults with cleft palate. The key objectives are to: 1) investigate anatomical risk factors associated with post-operative velopharyngeal...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), provides $1,608,956 to The Regents of the University of California, operating as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to conduct research on human midface development and genetic factors underlying craniofacial birth defects. The key activities include: Generating a single-cell multimodal atlas of human craniofacial...
The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) awarded a $550,810 Project Grant (CFDA 93.121 - Oral Diseases and Disorders Research) to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to create the Human Craniosynostosis Atlas (HUCA). The project aims to standardize data acquisition protocols and establish a public repository of comprehensive CT, MRI, and genomic data for characterizing all types of craniosynostosis, a premature fusion of the cranial sutures affecting 1 in 2,000...
This federal Project Grant award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under CFDA 93.865 (Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research) will provide $763,886 to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to conduct comprehensive research on the role of alternative RNA splicing and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) during craniofacial development. The key objectives are to: 1) Leverage next-generation sequencing...
This $453,750 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), will support research to investigate the genetic and cellular mechanisms underlying craniosynostosis, a common craniofacial birth defect. The research team at Boston University Medical Campus will use a zebrafish model to study the role of the ERF transcription factor in normal skull development and how its reduction...
The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) awarded a $250,931 Project Grant under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121) to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. The grant will fund the development and validation of a novel diagnostic modality that integrates dynamic computed tomography (4D-CT) with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis to quantify upper airway obstruction in patients with Robin sequence, a congenital...
LEVERAGING DATA FOR INFANTS WITH CLEFT TO GROW AND FLOURISH: THE BLOOM STUDY - ABSTRACT INFANTS WITH OROFACIAL CLEFTS ('CLEFT') ARE AT HIGH RISK OF MALNUTRITION. OVER 5,000 INFANTS ARE BORN WITH A CLEFT IN THE UNITED STATES EACH YEAR. BY 3 MONTHS OF AGE AN ESTIMATED 27% OF THESE INFANTS ARE UNDERWEIGHT WHEN COMPARED TO WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION INFANT GROWTH CURVES (WEIGHT-FOR-AGE Z-SCORE -2). THE REASONS FOR THIS ARE MULTIFACTORIAL, AND INVOLVE THE ANATOMICAL IMPACT OF THE CLEFT, LACK OF TIMELY CLINICAL CARE WITH THE APPROPRIATE SPECIALISTS, SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH, LACK OF ACCESS TO NECESSARY RESOURCES (E.G., CLEFT BOTTLES, BREAST PUMPS), CAREGIVER FACTORS, AND INFANT HEALTH CHARACTERISTICS. WE DO NOT KNOW WHICH INFANTS WITH CLEFT WILL DEVELOP UNDERNUTRITION, WHICH FACTORS ARE MOST SALIENT, HOW UNDERNUTRITION IMPACTS HEALTH OUTCOMES, OR HOW TO PREVENT UNDERNUTRITION IN THIS POPULATION. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO ADDRESS THESE GAPS. WE AIM TO: (1) PREDICT WHICH INFANTS WITH CLEFT WILL DEVELOP UNDERNUTRITION AND DETERMINE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN UNDERNUTRITION AND SURGICAL OUTCOMES VIA A LARGE CLINICAL RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY (N~18,000); (2) QUANTIFY ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN CAREGIVER/INFANT FACTORS AND UNDERNUTRITION, AND QUANTIFY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN UNDERNUTRITION AND ADVERSE CAREGIVER/INFANT OUTCOMES IN A PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY OF CAREGIVER/INFANTS (N=336); AND (3) DETERMINE THE CONTRIBUTION OF CAREGIVER/INFANT FACTORS TO OUR CLINICAL PREDICTIVE MODEL FOR UNDERNUTRITION. OUR AIMS COMPLEMENT ONE ANOTHER AND PROVIDE A HOLISTIC VIEW OF INFANTS WITH CLEFT AND THEIR EXPERIENCE WITH UNDERNUTRITION AND ADVERSE HEALTH OUTCOMES. THE RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY IN AIM 1 WILL LEVERAGE CURATED ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS FROM PEDSNET, A CONSORTIUM OF U.S. CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS AND A DATABASE ON OVER 12 MILLION CHILDREN WITH RECORDS FROM 2009 TO THE PRESENT. THE PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY IN AIM 2 WILL INCLUDE CAREGIVER/INFANT DYADS AND ELICIT CAREGIVER/INFANT EXPERIENCES FROM BIRTH TO 15 MONTHS OF AGE. IT WILL FOCUS ON INFORMATION NOT IN THE ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD. THIS PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY WILL CAPTURE FACTORS RELATED TO CAREGIVER/INFANT FEEDING EXPERIENCES, SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH, FREQUENCY OF INFANT INFECTIONS, CAREGIVER STRESS, CAREGIVER QUALITY OF LIFE AND MORE. AIM 3 IS AN EXPLORATORY AIM IN WHICH WE WILL COMBINE DATA FROM PEDSNET WITH DATA FROM OUR PROSPECTIVE COHORT TO EXAMINE CAREGIVER/INFANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR CLINICAL PREDICTIVE MODEL DEVELOPED IN AIM 1. OPTIMAL NUTRITION IN EARLY LIFE IS A CORNERSTONE OF INFANT HEALTH. UNDERNUTRITION IN US INFANTS WITH CLEFT IS UNACCEPTABLY HIGH AND THERE IS INSUFFICIENT RESEARCH ON HOW TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE. OUR STUDY WILL ADDRESS THIS GAP AND IS RESPONSIVE TO NIH/NIDCR NOTICE OF SPECIAL INTEREST FOR DATA SCIENCE PROJECT IN DENTAL AND CRANIOFACIAL RESEARCH. WE WILL SHED LIGHT ON AN UNDER-INVESTIGATED AREA IN CLEFT RESEARCH AND GENERATE A ROBUST, NEW BODY OF EVIDENCE ON UNDERNUTRITION AND ITS IMPACT ON ADVERSE HEALTH OUTCOMES IN CLEFT. OUR FINDINGS WILL INFORM THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TAILORED, HIGH IMPACT INTERVENTION TO ENSURE TIMELY GROWTH AND HEALTH OF US INFANTS WITH CLEFT.