Project Grant R21HD119480

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awarded Massachusetts General Hospital $466,740 on August 3, 2026, under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865) to investigate congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) using fetal tracheal aspirates as a molecular and cellular window into hypoplastic lung development.

The project will examine when an inflammatory signature—characterized by increased cytokeratin 5 and activated NFKB expression with diminished differentiation of secretory club cells and goblet cells—first manifests in CDH tracheal aspirate progenitor cells and whether these progenitors can be induced to differentiate as a measure of effective therapy. The research will harvest tracheal aspirates at three clinical timepoints during fetal endotracheal occlusion (FETO), a proven severe CDH therapy: at balloon deployment (28 weeks), balloon deflation (34 weeks), and as a newborn. The work will test whether steroids and NFKB inhibitors reverse the inflammatory signature in human tracheal cells, with implications for selecting therapeutics and optimizing their timing and dosing to improve lung differentiation.

Work is performed at Massachusetts General Hospital's Research Management Division in Boston, Massachusetts. The award runs through July 31, 2028. This is an R21 project grant, which supports exploratory and developmental research.