Children's Memorial Research Center: News

Celebrating Bernard L. Mirkin, PhD, MD The memory and special contributions of Bernard L. Mirkin, PhD, MD, were celebrated during the unveiling of his portrait at Children’s Memorial Research Center on May 6, 2009. Dr. Mirkin, the founding director of the research center, was remembered by his colleagues, family and friends.  Read more.

Goldman honored by Children's Brain Tumor Foundation

May 14, 2009 - Actress Bonnie Hunt, mistress of ceremonies for the seventh annual Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation (CBTF) Benefit held in Manhattan, May 13, 2009, presented Stewart Goldman, MD, Children’s Memorial Hospital, with the Foundation’s Pioneer Award for outstanding contributions in pediatric neuro-oncology and brain tumor research. Goldman is medical director of neuro-oncology at Children’s Memorial, director of the Center for Clinical Trials Research for Children’s Memorial Research Center and Associate professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.  Read the full story.

InTouch Spring 2009

The Spring 2009 issue of InTouch With Research at Children's Memorial Research Center  is available. InTouch, published quarterly online, is the newsletter for the research center. Previous issues.

New director of Biostatistical Consulting Core Deli Wang, MD, PhD will join Children’s Memorial Hospital and the Feinberg School as the first Director of the Children’s Memorial Research Center Biostatistical Consulting Core. Pending approval of his faculty appointment by Northwestern University, he will join the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences as an Assistant professor beginning in August 2009. Wang currently serves as Co-Director of the Biostatistics Core for Morehouse School of Medicine/Tuskegee University/UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center Partnership grant.

Children's Memorial Hospital launches web site for federal stimulus dollars

http://www.childrensmrc.org/ARRA_Proposals_Main/

Children’s Memorial's Office of Sponsored Programs has built a web page that lists the various funding opportunities available through the recently passed American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the Stimulus Package.

This web page will be updated as new opportunities and information related to the ARRA bill are announced.

Children's Memorial Hospital publications

On a monthly basis, we compile a list of journal publications by Children's Memorial Hospital authors. Click here to view the list (September 2008 to the present).

The Lurie Matching Challenge Grant for Medical Research Facilities: Ushering in a new era of pediatric research in Chicago

The location of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Streeterville opens the door for greater research and clinical collaboration with future campus neighbors, including Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, its Prentice Women’s Hospital and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

To ensure the necessary space and facilities to foster collaborative pediatric research in Streeterville, Ann Lurie has issued a special challenge to the Chicago community. Her $100 million gift to Children’s Memorial includes a $20 million matching challenge grant designed to generate philanthropic support specifically for the hospital’s research enterprise. Read more >>

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.

Past Articles 

• Introduction
• The Medical Research Institute Council
• Strengthening the Research Enterprise
• The Six Research Programs and the Ten Centers of Excellence

Introduction

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.

Guided by founding director, Bernard L. Mirkin, PhD, MD, the research center became one of the nation's leading free standing pediatric research entities attracting scientists whose work is supported by prestigious federal and private research funding, and which significantly advances the development of cures for the diseases of children. Soon the fast pace and growth of the research endeavors exceeded best estimates. In 1995, the founders of Children's Memorial Research Center realized their dream when a laboratory structure consisting of 71,000 square feet of space was built on Halsted Street. In 2004 – just one decade since its inception – the laboratory facility expanded to 125,000 total square feet of space.

In 2007, under the leadership of Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD, Children's Memorial Research Center has become a virtual center for all research conducted by Children's Memorial's investigators – whether they work in the facility on Halsted Street, in the hospital, at Marcey Street, at the Feinberg School, or throughout the community. Research funding for Fiscal Year 2008 exceeded $31 million. To date, the research technology portfolio has 12 patent filings and 41 clinical trials. Notable awards include:

• a substantial grant from the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute for stem cell research;
• a public-private partnership involving philanthropist Ann Lurie, the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Brown Health Center, and Children's Memorial to support the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network (ATN) for HIV/AIDS Interventions; and
• a generous gift from philanthropists David and Denise Bunning to support a 4-year, multi-site research initiative to study the impact of environmental and genetic factors on children who suffer from food allergies. The initiative is headed by the Bunning Food Allergy Institute at Children's Memorial.

Over 200 investigators, 500 staff and numerous trainees contribute to the six growing Programs in Basic Research and Translational Medicine: Cancer Biology and Epigenomics, the Mary Ann & J. Milburn Smith Child Health Research Program, Clinical & Translational Research, Developmental Biology, Human Molecular Genetics and Neurobiology. In addition, there are 10 Centers of Excellence: Clinical Trials Research, Clinical Immunology, Community Partnerships & Health Promotion, Digestive Diseases & Immunobiology, Falk Brain Tumor Research, HIV/AIDS Research, Neuroblastoma Research, Obesity Management & Prevention, Pediatric Critical Illness & Injury and the Pediatric Practice Research Group.

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The Medical Research Institute Council and the MRIC Pavilion

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 $33 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.

Strengthening the Research Enterprise

Prominent cancer biologist Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD, became the President and Scientific Director of Children’s Memorial Research Center in 2004. Dr. Hendrix is the recipient of a prestigious MERIT Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In 2006, she received the Distinguished Woman Faculty Award from the Feinberg School. Scientific objectives of her laboratory include identifying genes that contribute to cancer metastasis, and her major goal is to define important structure/function relationships that provide the biological basis for new therapeutic strategies. She has published over 200 scientific papers and numerous book chapters. An advocate for science and science policy, Dr. Hendrix has testified before the U.S. Congress to increase funding for biomedical research, and serves on the National Institutes of Health's Council of Councils, the NCI's Board of Scientific Advisors, the Research Advisory Panel for the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Board of Directors for the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences, the Board of Directors of Research!America, and the Board for the Campaign for Medical Research. She is the Past President of FASEB (the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology), which consists of over 70,000 members – the largest coalition of biomedical research societies in the U.S. In 2005, Dr. Hendrix was endowed with the Medical Research Institute Council Professorship, President and Scientific Director, Children's Memorial Research Center.

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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 

   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