Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute announces the recipients of the fall 2023 internal funding opportunities. For the fall 2023 cycle, candidates were allowed to submit proposals for the following award categories:
· Catalyst’s Spark Award is a one-year award for up to $100,000 to support novel population health, implementation science, or community-engaged research.
· Digital Healthcare Innovation Grant Awards are part of the new Health@Home strategic research initiative at Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute. The goal of Health@Home is to catalyze science that equitably transforms how digital healthcare is developed and delivered outside of hospital and clinic walls.
Health@Home Today Grant is a $10,000 grant designed to assess how existing digital health interventions are impacting a healthcare process or health outcome.
Health@Home for Tomorrow Grant is a $30,000 grant designed for a project aimed at developing a new digital healthcare intervention not yet in clinical practice or furthering an existing program that is hypothesized to improve a specific healthcare process or outcome.
Health@Home Activation Grant is a $5,000 grant designed to activate new research protocols for data collection and/or healthcare techniques in the home and community.
· Interdisciplinary Colloquia Award is a one-year award for up to $5,000 to bring together multi-disciplinary investigators from Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Northwestern University to share scientific knowledge and envision future research related to children’s health research.
· Kenneth C. Griffin Research Catalyst Award is a one-year award for up to $100,000 to support novel preclinical and translational research.
· Program Accelerator Award is a one-year award for up to $75,000 to support planning and development of program project-related applications expected to lead to a submission within 18-24 months of the start of funding.
· Proposal Revision Award is a one-year award for up to $100,000 to support the revision and resubmission of an application for federal research support.
· Schreiber Family Center GROW to 5 Grants are supported by the Schreiber Family Center for Early Childhood Health and Wellness and allow for the collection of pilot data, that will increase the competitiveness of extramural proposals for R, P, and U-series awards.
Flourish Award is for up to $75,000 to fund a one-year project period to develop a multi-project research program or cooperative agreement proposal.
Thrive Award is for up to $50,000 to fund a one-year project period to collect pilot data for an R-series proposal.
Cultivate Award is for up to $25,000 to fund a one-year project period to engage family or community members to establish or enhance research partnerships.
· Scientific Advocacy Award is a one-year award for up to $1,000 per year to advocate for children's health research at the regional and national level and raise the stature of Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago investigators in scientific advocacy.
· Visionary Award is a one-year award for up to $75,000 to support potentially paradigm-shifting research.
Manne Research Institute provides internal grant and award opportunities to a faculty member or other person who has principal investigator-eligible status to develop projects that will lead to a highly competitive extramural application for sustained research support within 18 months of receiving the award. Funding opportunities are available bi-annually, in the fall and spring, and may vary depending on the year and cycle. Pediatric research at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is conducted through Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute.
Kathleen Boyne, MD
Attending Physician, Pulmonary Medicine, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Award type: Interdisciplinary Colloquia Award
Amount funded: $5,000
Title: Lurie and Northwestern Developing Cystic Fibrosis Research Partnerships
Access to a diverse group of scientists and clinical researchers across Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern University puts both in a prime position to address the challenges and knowledge gaps in cystic fibrosis. The Interdisciplinary Colloquia Award will help support Dr. Boyne’s work at launching the Lurie and Northwestern Developing Cystic Fibrosis (LaND CF) Research Partnerships working group as it brings together investigators across multiple disciplines currently conducting, or interested in conducting, investigator-initiated work in cystic fibrosis to increase awareness of what others are doing and to build new research collaborations.
Vidhi Dalal, MD
Attending Physician, Nephrology (Kidney Diseases), Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Instructor of Pediatrics (Nephrology), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Award type: Kenneth C. Griffin Research Catalyst Award
Amount funded: $100,000
Title: The TCF21-TARID Axis in Podocyte Health
Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis is a difficult to treat condition with a poor prognosis. Developing a better understanding of the kidney cells primarily affected in this condition, podocytes, is key for the innovation of new treatments for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. The Kenneth C. Griffin Research Catalyst Award will support Dr. Dalal’s research to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which a vital podocyte protein called TCF21 regulates podocyte health and how a long noncoding RNA called TARID regulates the production of TCF21 in podocytes.
Jessica Teresa Fry, MD
Attending Physician, Neonatology, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatology), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Award type: Visionary Award
Amount funded: $75,000
Title: Exploring Parental Decision Making in Maternal-Fetal Surgery: A Retrospective, Mixed-Methods Study
The diagnosis and treatment of congenital abnormalities are a commonplace feature of perinatal care, yet there are limited data describing how a decision is made by parents or parents’ views of the decision-making process itself, either with maternal-fetal surgery or postnatal management of fetal anomalies. The Visionary Award will support Dr. Fry’s retrospective, mixed-methods study of pregnant patients seen at the Chicago Institute for Fetal Health at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago who engaged in decision-making surrounding maternal-fetal surgery for congenital anomalies so as to assess the decision-making needs and process of this unique and important population.
Kyle Honegger, PhD
Senior Data Scientist
Award type: Health@Home Activation Grant
Amount funded: $5,000
Title: Beyond Wearables: An Initial Exploration of No-Contact Wi-Fi Sensing for Monitoring Pediatric Health in the Home Environment
The Health@Home Activation Grant will support Dr. Honegger’s proposal that introduces an innovative approach to pediatric remote patient monitoring by employing Wi-Fi sensing technology and deep learning models to evaluate the potential for non-intrusive monitoring of important health metrics in home environments. The project focuses on performing an initial evaluation of this unproven approach by replicating and extending an existing study and leveraging enhanced performance metrics to determine suitability for pediatric applications.
Jami Josefson, MD, MS
Attending Physician, Pediatric Endocrinology, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Endocrinology), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Award type: Interdisciplinary Colloquia Award
Amount funded: $5,000
Title: The GROWTH Study: Investigator Meeting to Expand Research and Funding
The GROWTH Study (Glycemia Range and Offspring Weight and adiposity in response to Human milk), funded by NIH/NICHD (R01HD109260), is a prospective, multi-center study enrolling maternal-child dyads. The Interdisciplinary Colloquia Award will support the hosting of a study-wide collaborative planning meeting for investigators and coordinators at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the GROWTH Study lead clinical coordinating center. The meeting objectives are to ensure study integrity (review common protocol, reassess staff competence and standardization in human milk collection procedures and infant measures), plan ancillary studies, and define targets for external funding applications. Dr. Josefson would like to recognize Daniel Robinson, MD, Attending Physician (Neonatology) and Founders’ Board Neonatology Young Research Scholar at Lurie Children’s, who is a multiple principal investigator on the study and a co-author of the Interdisciplinary Colloquia Award proposal.
Soyang Kwon, PhD
Research Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Award type: Schreiber Family Center GROW to 5 Thrive Award
Amount funded: $50,000
Title: Health in Early Childhood Among Asian Americans Research (HEAR)
Dr. Kwon is planning to submit an NIH R01 application in June 2025 to establish a population-based cohort study that includes young Asian American children and their families residing in the Chicago area. This proposed research project is intended to fill critical knowledge gaps regarding early childhood exposures, psychological wellbeing, and lifestyle behaviors specific to Asian American subgroups, with a particular focus on the impacts of positive parent-child interactions and family resilience on child health. To increase the competitiveness of the R01 application, Dr. Kwon will use the Schreiber Family Center GROW to 5 Thrive Award opportunity to pilot test a remote data collection protocol, collect pilot data, and develop academic and community partnerships.
Monica Laronda, PhD
Director of Basic and Translational Research, Fertility and Hormone Preservation and Restoration Program, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Gesualdo Family Research Scholar, Lurie Children’s; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Award type: Scientific Advocacy Award
Amount funded: $1,000
Title: Supplying CPS Teachers Who Attend ReproSTEM with Lab Support Kits
The ReproSTEM program promotes conceptual and technical understanding of reproductive biology, endocrinology, and tissue engineering research that can be applicable to childhood diseases and conditions. The goal is to inform the next generation of scientists by educating Chicago Public Schools teachers and providing them the necessary materials to teach the lab techniques that they learned during the ReproSTEM course in their classrooms. To sustain the work of the ReproSTEM program beyond the three years required by the NIH U01 grant, Dr. Laronda will apply for an NIH Program Project Grant. This grant requires an educational component. The Scientific Advocacy Award will help her to build the program in preparation for applying for this grant. The timeline for this grant submission is estimated between 2025–2026. Dr. Laronda would like to acknowledge the team’s main staff member Lauren Gadek, Research Technologist II, for her contributions to writing and submitting the Scientific Advocacy Award application and keeping the ReproSTEM program organized.
Yongchao Ma, PhD
Children’s Research Fund Endowed Professorship in Neurobiology, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Neurology, and Neuroscience, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Award type: Proposal Revision Award
Amount funded: $100,000
Title: Fascin Regulation of Mitochondrial Defects and Neuroinflammation in Motor Neuron Degeneration in SMADr. Ma will use the Proposal Revision Award to support the resubmission of an R01 application for a proposal that focuses on investigating the unanticipated involvement of fascin, an actin bundling protein traditionally linked to cancer metastasis, in the regulation of mitochondrial DNA maintenance, mitochondrial DNA leakage, and neuroinflammation in spinal motor neurons. The research will explore how the disruption of these processes contributes to motor neuron degeneration in spinal muscular atrophy, the leading genetic cause of infant mortality.
Susanna McColley, MD
Scientific Director, Interdisciplinary Research Partnerships, Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute; Professor of Pediatrics (Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Associate Clinical Director for Child Health and Director, TL1 Multidisciplinary Training Program in Child and Adolescent Health, Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute
Award type: Health@Home Tomorrow Grant
Amount funded: $29,997
Title: Validation of a Next Generation Mechanoacoustic Sensor for Precision Measurement of Cough in Cystic Fibrosis
The Health@Home Tomorrow Grant will support Dr. McColley’s research to validate a novel wireless mechanoacoustic sensor, currently under commercial development by Sibel Health, Inc., for use in precision monitoring of actigraphy, vital signs, and respiratory biomarkers such as cough in children with cystic fibrosis. This unobtrusive sticker-like sensor has potential to improve outcomes and reduce costs of care for children with cystic fibrosis, and to serve as a biomarker for clinical research conducted in home settings.
Katrina Obleada, PhD
Pediatric Psychologist, Potocsnak Family Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Child Psychology), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Award type: Catalyst’s Spark Award
Amount funded: $28,000
Title: Community Voices: Improving Access and Health Equity for Latinx/Hispanic Adolescents and Young Adults with Eating Disorders
Although eating disorder rates have continued to increase since the COVID-19 pandemic, eating disorders within the Latinx/Hispanic community are not well understood, such that findings on prevalence rates are mixed. Thus, exploring how health inequity impacts this community is indicated to better understand how we can deliver more appropriate, relevant, and effective care. The Catalyst’s Spark Award will support Dr. Obleada’s study to utilize the Health Equity Implementation Framework to propose determinants and facilitators to address health inequity within the Latinx community.
Peter T. Osgood, MD
Attending Physician, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Award type: Visionary Award
Amount funded: $75,000
Title: Pyloric Distensibility in Pediatric Dyspepsia, Nausea, and Vomiting
Disorders of gut-brain interaction, including functional dyspepsia, functional nausea, and functional vomiting, are highly prevalent in children and adolescents and can cause pain, nausea, malnutrition, and impaired social and school functioning. These clinical disorders often overlap with abnormal gastric motor function (gastroparesis), but clear understanding of disease processes is limited. The Visionary Award will support Dr. Osgood’s proposed research plan to afford clearer stratification of disease phenotypes as related to clinical, neuromuscular, and neuro-immune biomarkers of disease and lay necessary groundwork for improved mechanistic understanding of these diseases toward novel targets for treatment.
Amanda Marma Perak, MD, MSCI, FAHA, FACC
Attending Physician, Cardiology, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology) and Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Award type: Health@Home Activation Grant
Amount funded: $5,000
Title: Home Data Collection for Adolescents in the Cardiovascular Health Promotion Program (CPP)
The Health@Home grant will support Dr. Perak’s work to pilot test and refine the remote assessment protocol for adolescents with cardiovascular risk factors who participate in her novel intervention, the Cardiovascular Health Promotion Program (CPP), which is funded by a new NHLBI R34 award.
