Research Bulletin
News from the Child Health Research Institute
March 2022
A slide from Dr. Jessica Snowden's workshop opening session: Getting from Good Ideas to Great Execution
CHRI Pediatric Academic Workshop
Addresses Connection between Clinical Patient Care and Research Opportunities
On Feb. 25, the CHRI Pediatric Academic Workshop "From Bench to Bedside to Bench" addressed the topics of how to convert research ideas into reality; how to better connect clinical and bench science to impact patient care; and how to benefit from mentorship from senior investigators to develop your own career path. The workshop featured an opening session on the topic “Getting from Good Ideas to Great Execution,” presented by Jessica Snowden, MD, professor of Pediatric Infectious Disease and Vice Chair for Research, Dept. of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. It also featured panel discussions on “The Successful Collaboration Between Basic & Clinical Science,” moderated by Teri Mauch, MD, PhD, professor, Division of Pediatric Nephrology, and on the topic “From Bench to Bedside to Market,” moderated by Russell McCulloh, MD, associate professor, Division of Hospital Medicine. The last offering of the afternoon was breakout sessions on the topics of clinical protocol writing; developing Institutional biosafety and Animal Care and Use Committee protocols; and engaging advanced practice providers and allied health professionals in research.
 
To complement the pediatric academic workshop, Chester Koh, MD, professor of Urology, Pediatrics and OB/GYN at Baylor College of Medicine, and Balakrishna Haridas, PhD, director of the BioInnovation Masters of Engineering Program at Texas A&M University, presented on the capabilities of the Southwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium (SWPDC). SWPDC is an entity that provides assistance to developers of pediatric medical devices in the form of seed funding, consulting assistance, engineering and design assistance and other services.
 
Attendees gave the event rave reviews in a post-workshop survey. The excellence of Dr. Snowden's presentation was noted by multiple participants, and many spoke to the value of hearing from individuals at different stages of their research careers and the variety of perspectives and advice that generated.
 
CHRI pediatric academic workshops are offered bi-annually (February and August) and include presentations, panels and interactive sessions, as well as continuing medical education credits. We are currently planning our next workshop, and hope you will be able to join us.
CHRI Priorities & Activities:
Update from Executive Director Ann Anderson Berry, MD, PhD
We’re here for you in 2022!

March, with its cycles of spring, summer and winter weather, is fully upon us, as well as the increasingly controversial change to daylight savings time. Will we or won’t we be divesting of this annual time change? Is it healthier or not? Sounds like the perfect opportunity for a research study! Our sleep doctors can probably design something.

In our continual pledge to provide excellent services to support your research, we are keeping busy with new opportunities. There is so much going on at CHRI that this newsletter is packed full of opportunities. I’d like to highlight a few of them.

We are almost ready to roll out the CHRI Members Only Website! This area will be full of critical resources to optimize your research opportunities. You will sign in with your UNMC credentials, and if you don’t have those, we will help you to get a sign-in set up. There will be dedicated communications regarding this coming soon. I am confident that you will appreciate all of the work that has gone into designing this site.

As we focus on building our Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) foundation this year at CHRI, we have several items to highlight:

All CHRI members will have the opportunity to engage with kids interested in science, health care and research this summer at Completely Kids and Girls Inc. We will have more details on how you can participate in developing a research and science pipeline for kids in our community in a separate communication. Please consider these opportunities. They are fun and rewarding.

The CHRI Health Equity RFA will be released soon. If you have an idea for a research project that evaluates child research from a health equity perspective, we will be excited to receive your applications. (Both CHRI and the Pediatric Cancer Research Group will be accepting applications.)

And finally, I am excited to announce our CHRI DEI Journal Club. We will be hosting a noon Zoom to discuss articles and books about DEI in science, research and related topics. Please look for articles and outlook calendar invitations soon.

We are preparing for a very busy June grants submission period. If you are planning to submit anything in June, please let us know ASAP so we can prepare to budget our time accordingly.

Wishing you a productive spring!

Ann
First CHRI Conference Scheduled for Nov. 3 & 4
The Child Health Research Institute (CHRI) invites you to attend our flagship event, the Child Health Research Institute Conference on Nov. 3 and 4. The CHRI conference will feature:
 
  • Opportunities to meet and connect with child health investigators from a variety of disciplines and institutions
  • Presentations on significant advancements in child health from members of CHRI’s National Scientific Advisory Board and highlighted CHRI members
  • Breakout sessions dedicated to our Areas of Emphasis: Pediatric Cancer; Heart Diseases; Lifespan Diseases; Global Health; Genetics Development, Exposures and Injuries; and Health Services, Policy and Population Health.
  • Juried abstract and poster competition
 
Please reserve these dates on your calendar. More information is to come. 
Drawn to Medicine: Dr. James Vargo Stands Out as an Illustrator/Surgeon
James Vargo, MD, is an assistant professor of Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UNMC and a Craniofacial and Pediatric Plastic Surgeon, But, when he takes of his scrubs, he is also an in-demand scientific and educational artist available for hire to CHRI investigators needing illustrations for their next project. We talked to Dr. Vargo about his experience as an illustrator for other physicians and scientists.

Have you always been artistic? If not, how did you realize you had an aptitude for scientific illustrations?

Yes, I grew up drawing for fun but never had any formal training outside of art classes in school. I got into medical illustration rather serendipitously. One of my co-residents was publishing a manuscript and needed an illustration, and they turned to me and said, “Didn’t you say you like to draw, on your residency application?” I ended up drawing three panels by hand with pencil and it got published. I realized how inefficient it was to draw by hand so I taught myself to draw digitally. The business grew organically from there. Surgeons realized that they didn’t have to explain the anatomy or procedure since I have seen it and done many of the things they wanted to illustrate. That’s why a majority of my work has been for plastic surgeons. I’ve been lucky enough to be published in many journals and multiple textbooks, and I have had my illustrations presented at many national and international meetings.

Is there any standardization in the illustrations? It seems like most study illustration have a similar look to them. Is that just because that style is the best for showing scientific images? Are you allowed any personal latitude as the artist?

I try to tailor my illustration to the style the author wants, but many authors will point to a prior illustration and say they are looking for that style. I am happy to include as much or as little detail as needed. I am willing to match another style if an author shows me an example that they like. This is part of the consult process for me. I love the detailed illustrations, but they obviously take longer, and that’s considered as part of the cost of the illustrations.

What kind of turnaround time do you need for illustrations generally?

It depends on the number of illustrations and the amount of detail required. Normally four weeks is what I ask, depending on my surgical volume at Children’s!

How do you accurately capture the look of something that you may not have seen with your own eyes? Or do you just work off of photographs?

I try to work off of pictures as much as possible. Even if it’s not exactly like what I am trying to draw, it gives ideas of color values, perspective and textures.

In what ways does your work as an illustrator positively impact your work as a surgeon?

I have found that, throughout training and even as a practicing surgeon, you never know anatomy until you can draw it. My favorite part of the process has been digging into anatomical texts and papers and trying to create as accurate of an illustration as possible. That detail has helped as a surgeon. This has also helped me find gaps in our surgical knowledge and has opened doors to anatomical research. I also find it benefits me when teaching residents and medical students as I can demonstrate a procedure on a white board before we ever get into the operating room.

If you would like to learn more information about Dr. Vargo's illustration offering, click here for a portfolio of his work and here for a document with his contact information.
CHRI Global Health PI
Seminar Series Scheduled for 4/19
Please join us for the CHRI Global Health PI Seminar Series. Arwa Nasir, MBBS, MPH, division chief of Academic General Pediatrics and professor in the Department of Pediatrics, will present on, "Global challenges for childhood mental health." The event will take place Tuesday, April 19, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. (CDT), 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. (GMT). Click here to register.
CHRI Members Among Winners of UNeMed Invention Contest
UNeMed's inaugural "Back-o-the-Napkin Contest" closed recently, and organizers selected three winning inventions that will receive further development guidance and prototyping.

One of them was the "Single Laser Measurement Device for Jump Testing" submitted by CHRI members Michael Rosenthal, DSc, and Elizabeth Wellsandt, DPT, and their co-inventor Michael Wellsandt, DPT. All three are physical therapists in the College of Allied Health Professions. Their proposed device is a portable, single, laser jump-testing device for repeatable, objective, horizontal and vertical testing.

Congratulations!
Meet a Fellow CHRI Member
Kate Hyde, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, co-director of the Hematological Malignancies Subgroup of the Pediatric Cancer Research Group and director of the IGPBS-BMB PhD track.
 
What is your current primary area of research?
 
In my lab, we study the molecular mechanisms regulating leukemia cells with the long-term goal of identifying new targets for drug development. We primarily focus on acute myeloid leukemia, but have recently started working on acute lymphoblastic leukemia, as well. 
 
Please share information on a current research project. 
 
One project we are working on is a collaboration with Dr. David Oupicky in the College of Pharmacy at UNMC. It involves novel polymeric forms of the FDA-approved CXCR4 inhibitor, AMD3100. CXCR4 is known to be expressed by a variety of leukemia subtypes and localizes leukemia cells to the bone marrow, where they can escape killing by standard chemotherapies. AMD3100 is currently in clinical trials for its ability to mobilize leukemia cells to the blood where they can be killed by chemotherapy. But on its own, AMD3100 is not thought to affect leukemia cells. We were initially interested in the polymeric forms of AMD3100 because of their ability to form nanoparticles. Surprisingly, we found that the polymeric forms of AMD3100 have unique anti-leukemic properties that AMD3100 does not. The polymers induce significant cell death and differentiation in a variety of leukemia subtypes, but not in normal hematopoietic cells. We are currently exploring the molecular basis for the polymer’s anti-leukemic activities and how we can further modify the polymers to be more effective. Our hope is to develop polymeric CXCR4 inhibitors for the treatment of kids with leukemia.
 
What has been the primary benefit of CHRI membership?  
 
Through the CHRI, I have met a number of talented basic science and clinical researchers, learned about their research interests and formed new collaborations.
UNMC Core Facility Profile:
Core for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging
David E. Warren, PhD, graciously answered our questions about the Core for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging's utility for CHRI members’ research efforts.

In what ways can engagement with the Core for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging benefit CHRI investigators?

UNMC’s Core for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CAMRI) provides state-of-the-art research MRI capabilities for investigators at UNMC and across the greater Omaha area. CHRI investigators who wish to use MRI to study brain structure or function in pediatric populations would likely benefit from taking advantage of CAMRI’s outstanding capabilities. We operate a Siemens 3T Prisma MRI instrument that can collect high quality data of any MR modality using advanced gradients and research-grade pulse sequences. And just as importantly, our team includes MRI experts who can assist in the design of new MRI protocols suited to the specific needs of investigators’ research projects.

If an investigator wants to learn more about the Core for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging in connection with research projects, what is a good way of getting needed information?

For basic information about research at CAMRI, our website (https://go.unmc.edu/camri) is a great place to start. The site provides an overview of our services, our rates and fees and contact information for CAMRI personnel. If more details are needed, our facility manager and MRI specialist, Jim Brown (camri@unmc.edu), is a terrific resource. Also, any of CAMRI’s team of directors are happy to discuss research that might benefit from CAMRI’s involvement.

Have you worked with any pediatric scientists in the past on their research projects?

We’re pleased to report that two members of the CAMRI team of directors, myself, David E. Warren, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences, and Soonjo Hwang, MD, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, conduct National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research focused on pediatric populations; our team’s experience with MRI for children is a clear strength at CAMRI. Additionally, we are excited to support research by Dr. Jenni Blackford at UNMC’s Munroe-Meyer Institute, including her NIH-funded studies of childhood anxiety. We have also worked to develop NIH grant applications with members of CHRI to study the infant brain among other projects. We’re excited to discuss new opportunities to support pediatric research with investigators at CHRI.
 
What are some common questions you get about the Core for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and what are the answers to those questions?

The question we are most often asked is our rate for an MRI study, which is set at $600/hour. Another common question is whether our MRI scanner can collect a certain type of MRI scan, and the answer is almost always, “Yes!” We are equipped to collect all modalities of MRI data, and if we do not currently have a specific sequence in our library, our team is happy to work with investigators to add to our capabilities. Another important question is how MRI data is accessed once collected; we provide investigators with a secure, user-friendly web interface that allows approved study personnel to access, view and download MRI data for a specific project. Finally, participants in our research studies sometimes ask if MRI is safe and non-invasive. The answer is MRI is safe and non-invasive, does not employ X-rays and has no side effects. Also, CAMRI takes COVID-19 infection prevention protocols very seriously, and we have instituted special measures to ensure safe MRI scanning for all staff and participants at CAMRI during the pandemic.
 
What is the main thing you hope readers take away from your profile in the CHRI Research Bulletin about the Core for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging?
We hope that readers take away that CAMRI is open for business, eager to support research that uses MRI and excited to discuss new studies or upcoming applications with investigators at CHRI and beyond. Please visit https://go.unmc.edu/camri or contact us at camri@unmc.edu for more information.
What CHRI Word and PowerPoint Templates Should I Be Using?
CHRI Word Document
CHRI PPT Template Widescreen
It can be confusing to know what templates should be used for CHRI documents. It can be equally hard when you know what the right template is but can't find it. Fortunately all the files you need are shared on the CHRI SharePoint, including the templates pictured above.
CHRI PPT Template Standard
CHRI Word Letterhead
If you have trouble accessing the CHRI SharePoint or don't find something that you are looking for, you can also always email Chuck Koster. He will help you find or create what you need.

The CHRI SharePoint is also home to the latest CHRI Overview Deck. If you need changes or updates to the deck, again, please contact Chuck Koster.
Disseminating Discoveries:
February Publications
Take a minute to check out the wide range of research published by CHRI members in February.
Funding Opportunities:
The Clinical Translational Research Mentored Scholar Program (CTR-MSP)
Application deadline: April 29, 2022
 
Do you have a research interest that you would like to pursue, but are lacking time and funding? Would you like to explore in depth the process of designing, implementing and reporting ethically sound clinical translational research? The UNMC Clinical Translational Research Mentored Scholar Program (CTR-MSP) is currently accepting applications for members of the university faculty to join the program. This program offers a master's or PhD track designed to develop scientists or health professionals who are at the junior faculty stage into clinical and translational researchers by providing multidisciplinary didactic education and practical research grant training.
 
Scholars in this program may apply for a $25,000 pilot projects grant that will support collection of vital data needed to submit extramural funding.

Please check out the CTRMSP Program website for further information and contact Molly Cowgill if you have any questions

UNMC Vice Chancellor for Research Edna Ittner Pediatric Research Support Fund Request for Application - Deadline for Application Extended

Application Deadlines:
  • Application submission: 5:00 PM, March 16, 2022 EXTENDED 5:00 PM, April 8, 2022
  • Review and notice of grant award: April 2022
  • Grant award: July 1, 2022, pending regulatory review and approval

Purpose: The Edna Ittner Pediatric Research Support Fund awards grants for the study of diseases and congenital disabilities of children.

Award Description: Up to three grants will be awarded. Maximum award is $40,000.
Period of Performance: July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023

Eligibility: Any UNMC faculty (assistant professor or above) from any college; including faculty who have a signed employment agreement in place with a start date prior to November 1, 2022. Only one application is allowed per faculty member. Priority will be given to requests from faculty members in the Department of Pediatrics if the number of scientifically meritorious requests exceeds available funds.

For more information, click here.
Child Health Research Institute
986847 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-6847
402-559-4032 or 402-955-7907