CDI Funding Helps Propel Cancer Immunotherapy

John DiPersio, MD, PhD, (right) leads CDI-funded team developing an "off-the-shelf" CAR-T immunotherapy for hard-to-treat T cell cancers. The study evaluates the approach in mice with human T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia....Learn More

Genetic Lung Disease's Molecular Roots Identified

Using cells from children diagnosed with primary ciliary dyskinesia, a genetic lung disease, CDI-funded physician-scientists have figured out how mutations disrupt the clearing of the airways. ...Learn More

Early-Stage Pediatric Investigators Continue to Need Support

Supporting the Children's Discovery Institute is one way philanthropy can correct disparities in funding. ...Learn More

A Bold New Way of Understanding the Anatomy of the Heart

The story of this Children’s Discovery Institute-funded grant started with a phone call. Washington University School of Medicine biomedical engineer Jon Silva, PhD, was at a Microsoft conference and had just seen a demonstration of the Microsoft Hololens, the first self-contained hologram computer. This technology enables its user, who is looking through specially designed goggles, to interact and engage with three-dimensional holograms in their three-dimensional space. They call it augmented reality....Learn More

Two Experts. One Protein. And the Mission That Binds Them

A CDI resaerch team has embarked on a drug discovery journey that may lead to new treatment for pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NFLD. This serious condition is a troubling consequence of the rise in childhood obesity that can lead to diminished liver function later in life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five school-aged children (ages 6-19) is obese. ...Learn More

CDI Investigator Named to Scientific Advisory Council of the Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) Society Misty Good, MD,assistant professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named to the Scientific Advisory Council of the Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) Society. The nonprofit aims to reduce cases of NEC, a potentially fatal intestinal disease in premature newborns.... CDI More Info

Another Honor for CDI Leader and Founder of Gut Microbiome Research CDI Board of Managers member and world-renowned scientist Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, has received the Sanofi-Institut Pasteur International Award for his role in founding and leading the field of gut microbiome research.... CDI More Info

Antibiotics Warranted for Kids with Minor Staph Infections A former CDI faculty scholar and her research team have found that prescribing antibiotics is warranted for children with minor staph infections. The drugs help to reduce the risk of recurrent infections.... CDI More Info

New Clues Found to Common Respiratory Virus Researchers funded by the CDI to study a common virus striking children, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), have found clues to how it causes disease. They mapped the molecular structure of an RSV protein that interferes with the body’s ability to fight off the virus. Knowing the structure of the protein will help them understand how the virus impedes the immune response, potentially leading to a vaccine or treatment for this common infection. ... CDI More Info

New Translational Research Underway The Children’s Discovery Institute board of managers recently approved more than $3.7 Million in new grant funding for 13 wide-ranging pediatric research studies, four of which take aim at childhood cancers, including two clinical trials. In four other studies, researchers will tackle serious disorders of the gastrointestinal tract in children, including a life-threatening condition call necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) that develops in in some babies born prematurely. Funding also was awarded to two studies investigating different aspects of pediatric heart disease, as well as one designed to learn more about the long-term effects the Zika virus has on an infant’s brain. ... CDI More Info