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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. 

Orphan Disease

Orphan Disease Discovery

We have a long-standing interest in identifying and characterizing novel genetic disorders that affect the intestine or immune system. To date, we have identified human WNT2B deficiency and human HBS1L deficiency, and we continue work to characterize additional disorders in the lab.

Using Orphan Disease to Understand Human Biology

The novel gene disorders we characterize frequently lead us to other discoveries about biologic function of these proteins in health and disease. 

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 .

Preventing Serious Infections in the NICU

Dr. O'Connell is also the Director of Infection Control for the NICU, and works together with nurse leaders to optimize clinical care for prevention and rapid identification of infections.

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