Children's Health
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The mission of the Children's Health Research Center is to develop pediatric translational research. The center is actively using interdisciplinary approaches to understand the underlying basis of a wide array of congenital defects and childhood diseases. Several specific pediatric diseases are currently under investigation. A major initiative within the center is the Sanford Project, which aims to better understand, treat, and cure type I diabetes. Other diseases of interest include neurodegenerative disorders such as Batten disease and neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation, as well as pediatric brain cancers, cystic kidney disease, and primary ciliary dyskinesia. Additional topics of study include developmental defects of the nervous system and pancreas, oxidative injury in the perinatal lung, disorders relating to defects in the cell nucleus, and fatty acid deficiencies in the newborn. The center also includes expertise in a wide range of disciplines, including molecular biology, cell biology, developmental biology, biochemistry, and genetics. The Sanford Children’s Health Research Center is a two-site campus led by David A. Pearce, PhD in Sioux Falls, SD and Fred Levine, MD PhD in La Jolla, CA. The La Jolla site is located within the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. A unique partnership is in place with the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, as well as other leading research and clinical institutions through Sanford Children’s Hospital. With a rich and dynamic research environment and ongoing collaborations on a national level, the Sanford Children’s Health Research Center is actively advancing toward its goal of understanding and treating pediatric disease. Children’s Health Research Center Upcoming Events1st Annual Sanford Research – SDSU Research Symposium
June 11, 2012 Sanford Center, Sioux Falls, SD 5th Annual Sanford Children’s Health Research Center Scientific Symposium
November 7-9, 2012 Sanford Center, Sioux Falls, SD Children’s Health Research Center NewsRESEARCH The REPAIR-T1D clinical study, led by Alex Rabinovitch of the Sanford Project, reached a major milestone in their goal to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes by enrolling two-thirds of the patients needed for the clinical trial and is expanding to include patients from Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota in St. Paul and Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. For more information, see the press release. Michelle Baack received a Sanford Seed Grant for a clinical research project aimed at overcoming the docosahexaenoic acid deficit in premature infants. Michael Kruer received a Sanford Seed Grant for a clinical research project on the early stages of multiple sclerosis. PRESENTATIONS Jill Weimer presented research from her lab in a seminar at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN in February, 2012. Peter Vitiello presented research from his lab in a seminar at Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD in February, 2012.
Mary Kinkel presented research from her lab in a seminar at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN in February, 2012. Kamesh Surendran presented research from his lab in a seminar at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD in February, 2012. Several Children’s Health Research Center investigators gave oral presentations at the 2nd Annual Sanford Rare Disease Day Symposium in Sioux Falls, SD in February, 2012. Presenters included Michael Kruer, H. Eugene Hoyme, Chun-Hung Chan (Pearce Lab and Sanford Health BioBank Director), and Liz Donohue (CoRDS Director). Additional scientists in the Children’s Health Research Center participated in the event as volunteers.
Ziguang Guo presented research from his lab in an oral presentation at the Keystone Meeting on Advances in Islet Biology in Monterey, CA in March, 2012. Several Children’s Health Research Center scientists presented their research at the 11th International Congress on the Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses in London, England in March, 2012. David Pearce chaired a session on Disease Mechanisms, and both he and Jill Weimer gave oral presentations. In addition, three graduate students in the Pearce Lab presented their projects: Rozzy Finn and Samantha Hersrud presented posters, and Jake Miller gave an oral presentation.
Peter Vitiello was elected to be councilor to the advisory committee for the Northland Chapter of the Society of Toxicologists. Jill Weimer and Peter Vitiello participated in a biomedical research mini-series for the Southeast Technical Institutes Nuclear Medicine Program in Sioux Falls, SD in February, 2012. Topics included in the series were ethical issues in biomedical research, use of radiation in research, and designing a research project. Lance Lee gave a presentation about genetics research to a group of Sioux Falls Cub Scouts at the Sanford Center in February, 2012. Ben Forred (Vitiello Lab) presented a scientific activity to the group. Mary Kinkel gave presentation about research in her lab for the Research and Health Program for Hutterite leaders at the Sanford Center in March, 2012. Kyle Roux was interviewed on the South Dakota Public Broadcasting radio show “Innovation” and the KSOO radio show “A Better You” about the novel BioID method for identifying protein-protein interactions in March, 2012. Peter Vitiello presented at a DSU Scrubs Camp in March, 2012. Lance Lee gave a presentation about research in his lab to a high school anatomy class from Rutland, South Dakota at the Sanford Center in March, 2012. Kyle Roux gave a presentation about research in his lab to a high school science class from Vermillion, South Dakota in the Sanford Center in March, 2012. Jill Weimer, graduate student Rozzy Finn (Pearce Lab), and research associate Deanna Langager (Pearce Lab) gave presentations at a GWIS Girl Scout Day in Forensics at the Sanford Center in April, 2012. Several Children’s Health Research Center scientists participated in Biomedical Discovery Day at the Sanford Center in April, 2012. Over 400 area high school students attended the event, where they learned about careers in the biomedical sciences. The event was organized by Jill Weimer, and Kyle Roux and Patricia Crotwell gave scientific presentations. Also participating as volunteers were Rozzy Finn (Pearce Lab), Tiffin Duffy (Weimer Lab), Tyler Jepperson (Kruer Lab), Deanna Langager (Pearce Lab), Helen Magee (Weimer Lab), and Casey McKenzie (Lee Lab).
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Children’s Health Research Center faculty at the 2011 Sanford Children’s Gala.