Global collaborations in search of cures
Technological advances and an increasingly global economy are continually shrinking our world. Nowhere is this more evident than in the field of biomedical research. At Children's Memorial Research Center, investigators are collaborating with other top researchers around the globe on studies to accelerate the speed with which cures and better treatments are developed, which will benefit sick children the world over.
There is groundbreaking research being conducted in every program here, and every one of our investigators is involved in an international collaboration of some type, says the research center's president and scientific director Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD. In fact, our investigators are collaborating with scientists on every continent.
Hendrix is also an internationally known researcher in the Cancer Biology & Epigenomics Program. Her team is focused on identifying genes that contribute to the spread of cancer and other related diseases.
In another form of collaboration, a resource developed in another country will make vital data available to scientists at the research center in a variety of disciplines that may spur major discoveries to benefit children and their families.
Marcelo Bento Soares, PhD, director of the research center's Cancer Biology & Epigenomics Program, is in the early stages of a collaboration with an investigator in Brazil that would make what he calls a "one of a kind" tissue bank available for cancer and other research projects at Children's Memorial. Soares initiated the project with Dr. Fernando A. Soares (no relation), head of pathology at Hospital A.C. Camargo in São Paulo, Brazil, to conduct molecular analyses of pediatric tumors. What is most significant about this collaboration is that it will give Children's Memorial researchers access to 13,000 tissue samples annotated with invaluable clinical data.
The number of samples and the quality of this resource are unique in what they will enable us to do, says Soares, who is also co-director of the Pediatric Oncology Program at Northwestern University's Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. The ability to study large cohorts will increase statistical power and broaden the impact of our discoveries, ultimately leading to new clinical trials.
In return, Soares, who is involved in other collaborations with researchers in Australia, France and the Netherlands, says Children's Memorial can offer Fernando Soares access to the program's advanced gene sequencing and other specialized technologies. This will be a long-term relationship that will be synergistic and will be a real plus for both institutions, he says.
Similarly, Xiaobin Wang, MD, MPH, ScD, director of the Mary Ann and J. Milburn Smith Child Health Research Program at Children's Memorial Research Center, has developed a rich source of data from population-based research in China. Collaborating with other institutions, including the Anhui Medical University in China, Wang is the principal investigator for two and co-investigator for one NIH-funded projects that analyze data from a cohort of 2,000 Chinese twin pairs. Following twin pairs over a period of years allows the researchers to determine to what degree genes or environment affect health and natural history of diseases, such as childhood obesity, the relationship between sleep and risk of being overweight, and the precursors of osteoporosis in children. The research to date has yielded valuable information and generated over a dozen peerreviewed
publications.
China is in the middle of an economic and nutritional transition, which has significant implications for child health and public health as the population becomes westernized, says Wang. These projects are so exciting because of what they are contributing to our understanding of the precursors of common adult diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Such knowledge can help us develop new paradigms for prediction, prevention, and early intervention of these diseases in clinical and public health settings.
Ann Harris, PhD, head of the Human Molecular Genetics Program at the research center and an internationally known leader in cystic fibrosis research, has collaborated with investigators in a variety of countries, including New Zealand, Japan and South Africa. Currently she's involved in projects with colleagues in Portugal, France and Israel.
Next year, Harris will collaborate on projects with a noted Brazilian geneticist. Thanks to a Fulbright Scholarship to Northwestern University, Maria Luiza Pereira, PhD, will join Harris team in Chicago to continue her work on the molecular basis of cystic fibrosis and other inherited diseases.
Research geneticists in Brazil tend to be much more involved at the patient level, so Luiza comes to us with an understanding of what it is like to have a human genetic disease that is not just theoretical, says Harris. "She sees the bigger picture."
In addition to collaborating with Harris, Pereira may work with other investigators on other projects. She will bring with her patient DNA samples from Brazil which, says Harris, will be a valuable addition to a current study, led by Children's Memorial pulmonologist Kimberly Watts, MD, into why Latinos with cystic fibrosis suffer from a more severe form of the disease than non-Latinos, and what the genetic contribution is to these differences.
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"Science is truly an international pursuit, and I'm a great believer in these types of collaborations," says Harris. "Every country and culture has a slightly different way of looking at things, and working with scientists from other parts of the world opens your mind and makes it possible to advance knowledge in different ways. And since the aim for all of us is to try to develop novel treatments or screening methods that will benefit children, anything that helps develop these more rapidly should be welcomed."
This article first appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of Heroes magazine. For a dose of inspiration sent right to your inbox, sign up to receive our Heroes Update. Or read important facts about us.