What if your child could help unlock a mysterious diagnosis or test a new treatment?
Each year, hundreds of patients participate in research studies conducted by Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Although the focus of the studies varies broadly, they all have one common goal: creating a better future for generations of children.
This year, the research institute celebrated its 10th anniversary. In just one decade, the research team has grown from 40 people to more than 1,500 faculty and staff members conducting groundbreaking research in state-of-the-art labs in three downtown Seattle buildings.
To commemorate this milestone, we interviewed young people and their families who have propelled research on concussions, asthma, Kawasaki disease and other conditions our researchers work on every day. Thanks to the families and young people who contribute to research, Seattle Children’s can improve treatment and care for children’s illnesses around the globe.
Lead researcher, Dr. David Suskind, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Seattle Children’s.
Can diet alone be used to treat Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC)? It’s a question Dr. David Suskind, a gastroenterologist at Seattle Children’s, has been researching for years.
Today, he finally has the answer: yes.
In a first-of-its-kind-study led by Suskind, published today in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, diet alone was shown to bring pediatric patients with active Crohn’s and UC into clinical remission.
“This changes the paradigm for how we may choose to treat children with inflammatory bowel disease,” said Suskind. Read full post »
Bowen Warren, 3, was in the top blog post from 2016. Bowen was born with three heart defects and was brought to Seattle Children’s for emergency surgery.
Every day, extraordinary patients visit Seattle Children’s Hospital and researchers work toward medical breakthroughs at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. From scientific discoveries that make you say ‘wow’ to resilient patients who make you say ‘aww,’ these six blog posts from 2016 struck a chord with readers and were the most popular stories from the year.
The top blog post in 2016 featured Bowen Warren, who was rushed to Seattle Children’s for emergency heart surgery when he was born with three heart defects.
The Heart Center team developed a personalized treatment course for Bowen that included cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, echocardiography and creating a 3-D replica of Bowen’s heart that allowed surgeons to ‘practice’ a complex procedure called a Nikaidoh before getting him in the operating room. Today, Bowen is a happy, healthy and thriving 3-year-old. Read full post »
Dr. Todd Cooper, director of the Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Program and Evans Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cancer at Seattle Children’s, is leading a new clinical trial for children and adolescents with AML.
Imagine conquering childhood cancer, only to find out that years down the road your heart may fail. Unfortunately, many children who have battled cancer face this reality. While often lifesaving, the effects of chemotherapy treatment (drugs that kill cancer cells) can take a toll on the developing body of a child, potentially resulting in life-threatening late side effects like cardiac damage.
“You go through terrible chemotherapy, achieve remission, have a new lease on life and then your heart fails,” said Dr. Todd Cooper, director of the Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Program and Evans Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cancer at Seattle Children’s. “It’s not fair, and we’re determined to change this reality.” Read full post »
Seattle Children’s is partnering with Cricket Crate, a monthly subscription service developed by Kiwi Crate, Inc. that gets babies and parents started on the right path to child health. Proceeds from sales support child health and behavior research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.
If there’s a new baby in the family or someone you know is expecting, what better way to show your love than a gift that encourages healthy child development and supports pediatric research? Seattle Children’s is partnering with Cricket Crate, a monthly subscription service developed by Kiwi Crate, Inc. that aims to get babies and parents started on the right path to child health. The monthly boxes include age-appropriate items for newborns and toddlers up to 3 years of age.
Dr. Dimitri Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, helps design the content of the boxes. Each month, parents receive a package with an age-specific toy or product, a book to read to your baby, a short magazine with tips and an online toolkit. Proceeds from the sales benefit child health and behavior research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Read full post »
Dr. Rebecca Gardner, oncologist and lead investigator for Seattle Children’s PLAT-02 trial.
T-cell immunotherapy continues to take center stage as one of the most promising new cancer therapies of our time. After receiving the therapy, which reprograms a person’s own T cells to detect and destroy cancer, 93% of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who enrolled in Seattle Children’s Pediatric Leukemia Adoptive Therapy (PLAT-02) trial and were unlikely to survive, achieved complete remission. Some are still in remission now more than two years out from the therapy.
This is a message that Dr. Rebecca Gardner, oncologist and lead investigator for the PLAT-02 trial at Seattle Children’s, will be underscoring in her abstract presentations at The American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. However, she will also highlight that there is still work to be done, and will present a possible answer to one of the most challenging puzzles facing researchers in the field: How can we limit the possible side effects of the treatment while retaining the effectiveness of the T cells?
“We are in a pivotal time where we know this therapy works in getting patients who are very sick into remission, but now we’re focusing on how to improve the treatment experience, which includes limiting the possible side effects,” said Gardner. “Our latest results mark an exciting milestone where we have potentially found the key to better controlling the body’s reaction to the T cells while still ensuring efficacy.” Read full post »
STEM interns Frewoin Berga and Jennifer Khuc in the lab at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.
At Seattle Children’s Research Institute, doctors and researchers work every day to develop treatments and cures for childhood diseases. With the launch of the Seattle Children’s STEM internships for high school students this year, young people became scientific investigators themselves, working side by side with researchers in the lab.
As part of the new program, eight high school students from around Western Washington learned to use lab equipment, met with mentors and gained valuable research experience.
“I got a good snapshot of what research looks like,” said Kevin Nguyen, 18. “We learned all the nitty-gritty details, like how to maintain a pristine lab notebook, why it’s important to label your test tubes and the developmental phases of research — going from clinical trial to FDA approval.” Read full post »
Dr. Daniel Rubens published a new study that shows the buildup of carbon dioxide and inner ear damage may be linked to SIDS.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) may be linked to the build up of carbon dioxide and existing inner ear damage according to a new study in the journal Neuroscience. Author Dr. Daniel Rubens, an anesthesiologist and researcher at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, says the finding could help researchers understand the sequence of events and risk factors that lead to SIDS deaths.
“This is potentially an important breakthrough in understanding the biological underpinnings of what may be causing SIDS,” Rubens said. “We found that exposure to increasing levels of carbon dioxide and inner ear damage in mice resulted in a lack of movement toward safety and fresh air during sleep. We want to fine tune this discovery and study the connection to carbon dioxide in more detail.” Read full post »
The two new policies update previous recommendations and emphasize the importance of critical health behaviors such as sleep, cognitive development and physical activity. The policies recommend those daily priorities be addressed first, followed by mindful selection and engagement with media. Read full post »
These images show brain scans of a normal weight child (top row) and an obese child (bottom row) before and after a meal. The blue in the top right image from a normal weight child indicates reduced activity in areas of the brain associated with hunger. The bottom right image shows similar brain activity in an obese child before and after eating, an indication there may be an issue in brain signaling to indicate hunger and fullness.
Are brain signals in obese children different than brain signals in normal weight children? Researchers at Seattle Children’s hope to answer that question with a new trial that uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study brain signaling in children ages 9-11.
“Our goal is to understand why some children who are obese still feel hungry after eating a meal,” Roth said. “We want to understand this tendency to overeat in more detail and get insight into the brain signals that cause it.” Read full post »
