Intestinal Development Projects
Postnatal Exposures and Maladaptation of the Premature Intestine
The lab is interested in examining the normal developmental changes in the intestinal epithelium during the period from 22-40 weeks gestation, and how the normal development is influenced by postnatal exposures that happen in premature birth.
Importance of Wnt2b in Intestinal Health
The lab has a large focus around characterizing the importance of WNT2B in normal development and homeostasis as well as in intestinal diseases including colitis, colitis-associated cancer, and necrotizing enterocolitis.
Immune Development Projects
Immune Cell Development in Prematurity
The lab is interested in human immune development during the premature time period, and we've previously characterize T cell repertoire development in premature babies.
Understanding Prevalence of Primary Immune Disease in Premature Infants
The lab has previously done work to highlight the complexities of diagnosing inborn error of immunity (IEI) in premature babies. We continue to be interested in finding ways to improve diagnostic specificity for IEIs in this population.
Clinical Projects
Improving Gastrointestinal Care in the NICU
Clinically, we are also interested in practice improvement in our NICU around gut health and disease in premature babies. We are working on clinical quality improvement and new care guidelines for our NICU, with a longer term goal of increased participation in clinical research initiatives on a national level .