Children's Memorial Research Center: News
 

NIH Expands Food Allergy Research Program

NIH News (National Institutes of Health)

For Immediate Release -- Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Consortium of Food Allergy Research Renewed With a Five-Year, $29.9 Million Grant

Today, the National Institutes of Health announced that the Consortium of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR), established in 2005, will be funded for five more years. CoFAR will continue to foster new approaches to prevent and treat food allergies and also expand in scope to include research on the genetic causes underlying food allergy and studies of food allergy-associated eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases. Funding for CoFAR is provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), components of NIH.

Two principal investigators will receive funding under the new CoFAR grant: Hugh Sampson, MD, of Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City; and Xiaobin Wang, MD, MPH, ScD, of Children's Memorial Research Center, Chicago. Dr. Wang will lead the CoFAR genetics studies, which will include investigators at Boston University. The EMMES Corp. in Rockville, MD, will be the statistical and clinical coordinating center for CoFAR. Donald Stablein, PhD, is the principal investigator.

For more information about food allergy, visit the NIAID Food Allergy Web portal at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/foodallergy/.

Read the full press release.


BioEssays -- "Non-coding RNAs: Meet thy masters"

BioEssays cover 2010In the July 2010 issue of BioEssaysFabrício Costa, PhD reviews the already huge, but rapidly expanding, diversity of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). The review describes the most recent discoveries in the ncRNA field that implicate these molecules as key players in the epigenome. Costa’s work is also featured on the cover of the journal issue. Costa is a Research scientist in the laboratory of Marcelo Bento Soares, PhDCancer Biology and Epigenomics Program.

The cover image depicts the secondary structure of the long non-coding RNA HOTAIR, which is implicated in gene regulation by epigenetic mechanisms.  Image courtesy of Fabrício Costa, PhD.


InTouch Spring 2010

The Spring 2010 issue of InTouch With Research at Children's Memorial Research Center is available (PDF 780kb).  InTouch is the quarterly newsletter for the research center.

Previous issues


Children's Memorial Hospital publications

On a monthly basis, we compile a list of journal publications by Children's Memorial Hospital authors. View the list (September 2009 to the present).


Scientific Membership Application - Now Online

Children’s Memorial Research Center has begun its latest membership drive and is now accepting membership applications for its six different programs and 10 centers through the following web based application form. After completing this form, please send a copy of your latest NIH Biosketch or a brief resumé to Peg Rainey at: prainey@childrensmemorial.org.


Research Center Halsted building

About Children's Memorial Research Center

Established in 1986, Children's Memorial Research Center is the research arm of Children's Memorial Hospital, the pediatric teaching hospital for Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. The research center is also one of 29 interdisciplinary research centers and institutes of the Feinberg School, where principal investigators who are part of the research center are full-time faculty members.

Over 200 investigators, 500 staff and numerous trainees contribute to the six growing Programs in Basic Research and Translational Medicine. In addition, there are ten Centers of Excellence.

Our History

The Medical Research Institute Council and the MRIC PavilionResearch Center Halsted building

The Medical Research Institute Council (MRIC) was established in 1951 as a private, independent initiative to raise funds for innovative biomedical research. In 1991, the MRIC became affiliated with Children's Memorial, and since that time has raised more than $45 million. The generous support of the MRIC has been responsible for construction of Phase II of the Children's Memorial Research Center laboratory building on Halsted Street in Lincoln Park, endowed professorships for: the president and scientific director, the Neurobiology Program, the Cancer Biology and Epigenomics Program, and the Bernard L. Mirkin Research Scholar. MRIC funding has led to advanced investigations in cancer, heart disease, genetics, microbiology and neonatology.

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The Six Research Programs

To encourage a synergy of ideas among investigators in various disciplines, the research center's work is organized around six interdisciplinary research programs:

  1. Cancer Biology and Epigenomics 
    Four locations 

    Children's Memorial Research Center
    Four Locations

  2. Smith Child Health Research 
  3. Developmental Biology 
  4. Clinical and Translational Research 
  5. Human Molecular Genetics  
  6. Neurobiology 

The Ten Centers of Excellence

  1. Chicago City-wide FOCIS Center of Excellence 
  2. Clinical Trials Research
  3. Community Partnerships & Health Promotion 
  4. Digestive Diseases & Immunobiology 
  5. Falk Brain Tumor Center 
  6. HIV/AIDS Research 
  7. Obesity Management and Prevention    
  8. Neuroblastoma Research
  9. Pediatric Critical Illness & Injury 
  10. Pediatric Practice Research Group 

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