Translational Sciences

IV Nutrition Therapies and Metabolic Interventions: (CL Blanco, AK Gong)

  •  Amino acid levels in premature infants
  •  Intralipid solutions and markers of liver disease

Pertinent Publications:

1.     Association of Novel Markers of Liver Disease with Neonatal Liver Disease in Premature Baboons. Keller L, Eighmy S, Li C, Winter L, Kerecman J, Goodman Z, Mittal N, Blanco CL.  Plos One 2020 Mar (9); 15 (3):doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228985.

2.     High Branched-Chain Amino Acid Concentrations Are Found in Preterm Baboons Receiving Intravenous Amino Acid Solutions and Mimic Alterations Found in Preterm Infants. Blanco C; McGill-Vargas L; Li C; Winter L; Nathanielsz P. Journal of Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition. 43(8):1053-1064, 2019

3.     Early changes in plasma amino acid concentrations during aggressive nutritional therapy in extremely low birth weight infants. Blanco CL, Gong AK, Green BK, Falck A, Schoolfield J, Liechty EA. J Pediatrics, 2011 Apr;158(4):543-548.

4.     The Impact of Early High Amino Acid Supplementation on ELBW Infants at Two Years. Blanco CL, Gong AK, Daniels, W, Liechty, E, Schoolfield, J, Ramamurthy RS, Green, BK. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition 2012 Jan; 54:601-607.[BCL1]

Neonatal Diseases: (CL Blanco, SR Seidner, DC McCurnin)

  • Necrotizing enterocolitis: Role of TGFb
  • Kidney, Liver disease
  • Patent Ductus Arteriosus in Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia                   

Pertinent Publications:

1.     Transforming growth factor-beta2 is sequestered in preterm human milk by chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans. Namachivayam K; Coffing HP; Sankaranarayanan NV; Jin Y; MohanKumar K; Frost BL; Blanco CL; Patel AL; Meier PP; Garzon SA; Desai UR; Maheshwari A. American Journal of Physiology – Gastrointestinal & Liver Physiology. 309(3): G171-80, 2015

2.     Smad7 inhibits autocrine expression of TGF-b2 in intestinal epithelial cells in baboon necrotizing enterocolitis. Namachivayam K, Blanco CL, MohanKumar K, Jagadeeswaran R, Vasquez MM, McGill-Vargas L, Garzon SA, Jain SK, Gill RK, Freitag NE, Weikamp JH, Seidner SR, Maheshwari A. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiology 2013 Jan;304(2):G167-180.

3.     Preterm human milk contains a large pool of latent TGF-beta, which can be activated by exogenous neuraminidase. Namachivayam K; Blanco CL; Frost BL; Reeves AA; Jagadeeswaran R; MohanKumar K; Safarulla A; Mandal P; Garzon SA; Raj JU; Maheshwari A. American Journal of Physiology – Gastrointestinal & Liver Physiology. 304(12): G1055-65, 2013

4.     TGF-b2, a protective intestinal cytokine, is abundant in maternal human milk and human-derived fortifiers but not in donor human milk. Reeves AA, Johnson CJ, Vasquez MM, Maheshwari A, Blanco CL. Breastfeeding Medicine 2013

5.     Effects of ibuprofen treatment on the developing preterm baboon kidney. Sutherland MR. Yoder BA. McCurnin D. Seidner S. Gubhaju L. Clyman RI. Black MJ. Am J Physiol;302(10): F1286-F1292, 2012

6.     Patent ductus arteriosus ligation alters pulmonary gene expression in preterm baboons. Waleh N, McCurnin DC, Yoder BA, Shaul PW, Clyman RI. Pediatr Res, 69(3):212-216. 2011[BCL2]

Precision Medicine; TX BPDSeq: (AG Moreira)

  • A multi-site initiative program that utilizes novel approaches for predicting BPD
  • Well-phenotyped cohort of very low birth weight neonates at risk for developing BPD
  • Collection of biospecimens (urine, stool, tracheal aspirates, umbilical cord tissue
  • Creating a multi-omic approach (epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, etc.) to understand the mechanisms underlying the development of BPD.

Regenerative Medicine; Stem cell-based therapeutic approaches: (AG Moreira, SR Seidner, CL Blanco, DC McCurnin, SB Mustafa)

  • Hypoxic-Ischemic injury in neonates.
  • Bronchopulmonary dysplasia/lung disease in preterm neonates.

Pertinent Publications:

1.     Stem cell-based interventions for the prevention of morbidity and mortality following hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in newborn infants. Bruschettini M,  Romantsik O, Moreira A, Ley D, Thébaud B. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Aug 19;8(8):CD013202. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013202.pub2. PMID: 3281388

2.     Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A New Approach for Treating Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. Shamimunisa B Mustafa. Am J Biomed. Sci & Res. 2019 – 5(5).    AJBSR.MS.ID.000947. DOI: 10.34297/AJBSR.2019.05.000950.

3.     Intranasal delivery of human umbilical cord Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stromal cells restores lung alveolarization and vascularization in experimental bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Alvaro Moreira, Caitlyn Winter, Jooby Joy, Lauryn Winter, Maxwell Jones, Michelle Noronha, Melissa Porter, Kayla Quim, Alexis Corral, Yasmeen Alayli, Tyrelle Seno, Shamimunisa Mustafa, Peter Hornsby, Sunil Ahuja. Stem cells Translational Medicine, 2018. DOI: 10.1002.

4.     Mesenchymal stromal cell conditioned media for lung disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical studies. Emukah, C., Dittmar, E., Naqvi, R., Martinez, J., Corral, A., Moreira, A. & Moreira, A., 2019, Respiratory Research.

5.     Therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stromal cells for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical studies. Archambault, J., Moreira, A. G., McDaniel, D., Winter, L., Sun, L. & Hornsby, P. J., 2017. PLoS One. 12, 12, e0189895.

Resources and Core Service Facilities for Translational Studies:

  •     Unique Preterm Large Animal NICU for in vivo investigations with on-going multinational translational studies.
  •     Ability to perform pre-clinical trials.