Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center received a $824,078 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847), effective April 1, 2026, through January 31, 2030. The award supports a comprehensive research initiative to characterize drug-induced pancreatic injury (DIPI) through integrated computational and translational approaches. The research leverages large-scale transcriptomic data, real-world evidence from electronic health records (EHRs), FDA adverse event databases, and experimental validation to identify pancreatitis-modulating drugs, characterize harmful drug combinations, and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of DIPI.

The project deliverables include three primary research aims: (1) development of a computational compendium analyzing pancreatitis transcriptomic signatures and 1.4 million perturbagen profiles to identify protective and harmful medications and assess drug repurposing opportunities; (2) systematic mining of FDA adverse event databases to identify drug combinations that mitigate DIPI risk among approximately 120 known DIPI-causing drugs, with validation through longitudinal EHR analysis; and (3) mapping of DIPI modulators and pancreatitis gene sets onto molecular networks to understand disease mechanisms. These research outputs address critical knowledge gaps in identifying high-risk medications and defining individual patient risk profiles, ultimately supporting improved patient management and informed drug development decisions related to pancreatic toxicity.