Internal Funding
Academic and Research Committee (ARC) Awards
These grants support multi-disciplinary programs that can become self-sustaining within one to three years. Awardees this year are:
| PI | Division | Title |
| Melissa Klein, MD/MEd | Dan Schumacher MD/MEd | General & Community Pediatrics | Emergency Medicine | Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Education Research Unit (CERU) and Educational Research Scholars Program |
| Alexei Grom, MD | Grant Schulert, MD/PhD | Rheumatology | Cincinnati Autoinflammatory Disease (AIFD) Treatment and Research |
| Phillip Minar, MD | Sander Vinks, PharmD, PhD, FCP | Gastroenterology | Clinical Pharmacology | Physician Decision Support Dashboard for Monoclonal Antibodies in IBD |
| John Harley, MD, PhD | Center for Pediatric Genomics | Genomics Platform for Disease Mechanisms |
| Nathan Salomonis, PhD | Raphael Kopan, PhD | Biomedical Informatics | Developmental Biology | Cincinnati Pediatric Cell Atlas Center |
| Punam Malik, MD | Experimental Hematology | Sickle Cell Clinical Outreach and Research Excellence |
| Rebecca Marsh, MD | Jack Bleesing, MD, PhD | BMT | Diagnostic Center for Heritable Immunodeficiencies |
| Alonzo Folger, PhD, MS | Katherine Bowers, PhD, MPH | Biostatistics & Epidemiology | Every Child Succeeds Biorepository |
| Adam Nelson, MBBS, FRACP | Stella Davies, MBBS, PhD, MRCP | BMT | Viral-Specific Stem Cells in Solid Organ Transplant |
| Nancy Daraiseh, PhD | Maurizio Macaluso, MD, DPH | Research in Patient Services | Biostatistics & Epidemiology | Employee Safety Learning Laboratory |
| Terri Byczkowski, MBA, PhD | Emergency Medicine | Designing a Patient-Centered Information System for Outcomes Measurement in Ambulatory Care |
Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST) Program Awards
Cincinnati Children’s partners with the University of Cincinnati and other institutions to support programs funded through the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST). This list shows faculty who received grants to support translational research, build core capabilities, develop innovative research methods, or collaborate with community partners.
| Title | PI | PI Division | Co-I | Co-I Division |
| Single cell analysis of transplant rejection | Hildeman, David | Pediatrics/ Immunobiology | Woodle, Steve | Surgery/Transplantation |
| Targeting Metastatic Human Breast Cancer by Novel RNA Aptamers | Zhang, Xiaoting | Cancer Biology | Lower, Elyse | Hematology/ Oncology |
| Changing Health and Lifestyle Behaviors in Offspring | Zeller, Meg | Pediatrics/ Behavioral Med | West-Smith, Lisa | Psychiatry and Behavior Neuroscience/ Behavioral Health Services |
| Targeted Treatment in Sickle Cell Disease | Kalfa, Theodosia | Pediatrics/Hematology | Eisinger, Mary Quinn, Charles |
College of Nursing Hematology |
| Development of complementary, targeted therapies for HLH | Jordan, Michael | Pediatrics/Immunobiology, BMT/ID | Plas, David | Cancer Biology |
| The anti-inflammatory property of myeKLF2 delays the injured muscle regeneration | Heiny, Judith | Molecular and Cellular Physiology | Lingrel, Jerry | Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology |
| Role of thrombin-mediated PAR signaling in SCA | Nasimuzzaman, Md | Pediatrics/Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology | ||
| Defining the role of TSLP-lymphocyte interaction in EoE | Wen, Ting | Allergy and Immunology | ||
| Glial origin and signaling in medulloblastoma | Lu, Richard | Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology | ||
| Pharmacogenic Analysis of a Novel Inhibitor of Pediatric AML | Nassar, Nicolas | Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology | ||
| Determining the mechanism of a potential polycystic kidney disease drug | Kleene, Steve | Pharmacology | ||
| The Effects of TMAO on Aortic Inflammation | Owens III, Phillip | Cardiology | ||
| Identifying HuR-dependent gene expression in brown fat | Tranter, Michael | Cardiology | ||
| Ron-mediated metabolic reprogramming in the breast tumor microenvironment | Waltz, Susan | Cancer & Cell Biology | ||
| Exploring the Effect of Hypomethylating Agents on Mitochondrial DNA Methylation | Huang, Gang | Cancer Pathology | ||
| Molecular basis of tracheal and bronchial deformities | Sinner, Debora | Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology | ||
| Investigating alternate lipid denaturation pathways in glioblastoma | Dasgupta, Biplab | Oncology | ||
| Predicting Individual SES for Improved EHR Research | Brokamp, Cole | Biostatistics and Epidemiology | ||
| Improving cohort identification and IRB chart review protocol process for research | Harnett, Brett | Biomedical Informatics | ||
| Aligning community needs with patient navigation recruitment | Sastry, Shaunak | Department of Communication | ||
| Electronic consent process and automatic data transfer Interface for the Immunology Repository | Marsh, Rebecca | Bone Marrow Transplantation | ||
| Building a living database to optimize traumatic brain injury clinical research | Ngwenya, Laura | Neurosurgery | ||
| Santa Maria Community Services | Schemmel, Luz Elena | |||
| Cincinnati Health Department | Nixon, Jr., Anthony | |||
| Ronald McDonald House Charities | Dukes, Shawnie | |||
| St. Vincent de Paul | Flynn, Daniel | |||
| Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation | Dangel, Gary | |||
| S.T.A.C.I.E. Foundation | Whoberry, Lorraine | |||
| Queen City Foundation | O'Neal Turner, Toilynn & Turner, Treigg | |||
| Spina Bifida Coalition of Cincinnati | Burns, Diane | |||
| Prevention FIRST! | Sawmiller, Sarah | |||
| Community Engagement Collective | Kelly, Amber | |||
| Operation Restoration | Davis, Zaria | |||
| Community Action Agency | Watkins, Sharon & Williams, Nikki | |||
| Hamilton Urban Garden Systems (HUGS) | Merrett, Michelle | |||
| Christ Church Cathedral | Robinson, Judith | |||
| Ennis Tait Ministries | Sistrunk, Rosalind & Robinson, Clearra |
Center for Pediatric Genomics Pilot Studies
The Center for Pediatric Genomics (CpG) has established a fund to distribute $1 million annually among projects that accelerate innovative research, development, and implementation of genomic science. Awardees this year are:
| Faculty | Division | Title |
| Tanya Froehlich, MD, MS | Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics | Epigenetics of Methylphenidate Adverse Effects and Pharmacokinetics in Children with ADHD |
| Pooja Khandelwal, MD | Bone Marrow Transplantation & Immune Deficiency | Novel Metagenomics Studies of the Gut, Virome and Fungome |
| Timothy LeCras, PhD | Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology | Pathogenesis and Treatment of Capillary Venous Lymphatic Malformations |
| Halima Moncrieffe, PhD | Center for Autoimmune Genomics and Etiology | Shared Gene Regulatory Mechanisms of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis-Associated Genetic Variants |
| Nicolas Nassar, PhD | EHCB - Drug Discovery Program | Pharmacogenomics and Pharmacoproteomics of Rac Inhibition in High-Risk B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia |
| Rolf Stottmann, PhD | Human Genetics | Genetic Analysis of Complex Malformations of Cortical Development |
| Xueguang Sun, PhD | Ying Sun, PhD | Human Genetics | Single-Cell Mirror Bisulfite Sequencing – A Method for Single-Base Resolution of 5hmC at the Single-Cell Level |
| K. Nicole Weaver, MD | Human Genetics | Validating POLR1A p.C1562F as the Cause of a Novel Infantile Encephalopathy with Infantile Spasm |
Children’s Health Research Career Development Award (CHRCDA)
This NICHD-funded program provides grants to support training physician-scientists to stimulate pediatric research across a variety of disciplines. This year’s awardees are:
| Name | Division | Title of Research |
| Andrew Lautz, MD | Critical Care Medicine | Developmental age-related mechanisms of sepsis-associated myocardial dysfunction |
| Maria Barnes Davis, MD, PhD | Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology | Multimodal neuroimaging of the preterm language connectome: The Search for Biomarkers of Resiliency |
| Michael Sherenian, MD, MS | Asthma Research | Determining the role of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI - 1) in atopic dermatitis |
Cincinnati Children's Innovation Fund
The Cincinnati Children’s Innovation Fund is designed to accelerate the commercialization of discoveries, innovations, projects or products. Recipients this year are:
| Category | PI | Title |
| Digital | Jeffrey Epstein, PhD | Mehealth for ADHD electronic health record integration |
| Medical Device | Abby Hess, APRN, DNP | Commercialization of a breathing-controlled app and device that interfaces with anesthesia equipment |
| Diagnostic | Kakajan Komurov, PhD | Assessing transcription elongation defects in cancers for immunotherapy diagnostics |
| Medical Device | Iris Little, MD | Effie Gutmark, PhD | Application of Combined flow pulsations and acoustic vibrations for efficient airway secretions removal |
| Small Molecule | Qing Richard Lu, PhD | Identification of novel histone deacetylase 3 inhibitors for treating demyelinating diseases |
| Biologics | Punam Malik, MD | A novel way to improve gene correction via homologous recombination |
| Medical Device | Greg Myer, PhD, FACSM, CSCS*D | Augmented Neuromuscular Training (aNMT): improving lives through data-driven personalized medicine |
| Small Molecule | Nicolas Nassar, PhD | Novel inhibitors of Rac GTPase for high risk B-ALL multi-target therapy |
| Small Molecule | Daniel Starczynowski, PhD | Novel treatment for MDS and AML |
| Biologics | Ming Tan, PhD | Immune response and protective efficacy of the S60-VP8 particle rotavirus vaccine in a large animal model |
| Digital | Shari Wade, PhD | Teen online problem solving: an eHealth solution for adolescent brain injury |
Fifth Third Bank/Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Women Scholars Awards
This program provides grants to support the academic career development of women faculty who have demonstrated academic potential and leadership skills as they progress toward the ranks of associate and full professor. This year’s awardees are:
| Name | Division | Year |
| Rachel Thienprayoon, MD, PhD | Clinical Anesthesia | 2018-2019 |
| Vidya Chidambaran, MD | Anesthesia | 2019-2020 |
GAP Funding Awards
This program provides one year of support to bridge gaps in R01-level funding or equivalent. Awardees this year are:
| Name | Division | Title | Funding Round |
| Steve Danzer, PhD | Anesthesia | Glucocorticoid receptors: a novel target for preventing epilepsy and its comorbidities | 2018-July |
| Joo-Seop Park, PhD | Urology/DB | Molecular mechanisms of nephron tubule segmentation in mammals | 2018-July |
| Jessica Kahn, MD, MPH | Adolescent Medicine | Epidemiologic Impact of HPV Vaccination | 2018-July |
| Jason Lu | Biomedical Informatics | A network-based approach to associate HDL with stroke | 2018-July |
| Greg Myer, PhD, FACSM, CSCS*D | Sports Medicine | Neural Mechanisms of Sensorimotor Adaptation and Transfer to reduce ACL injury | 2018-Nov |
| Ying Sun, PhD | Human Genetics | Systemic Combination Therapies of Nanovesicle-based and small molecule drugs | 2018-Nov |
| Theodosia Kalfa, MD, PhD | Hematology | Role of erythroblastic islands in anemia of inflammation | 2018-Nov |
Place Outcome Awards
This program, administered by the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence, provides grants to stimulate the development of health services and quality improvement research at Cincinnati Children’s and to ensure optimal implementation of clinical and operational innovations in the care delivery system. Awardees receiving funding are:
| PI Name | Division | Co PI Name | Project Period Start | Project Period End | Award Title |
| Tanya Mullins, MD, MS | Adolescent and Transition Medicine | 1/1/2019 | 12/31/2021 | Integrating Biomedical Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Prevention into HIV Care | |
| Rebecca Shaffer, PsyD | DDBP | 1/1/2019 | 12/31/2021 | Concurrent Child/Teen and Parent Emotion Regulation Group Treatment for Autism | |
| Amy Rule, MD, MPH | Perinatal Institute | Beena Kamath, MD, MPH | 6/1/2018 | 6/30/2020 | Microbial and clinical outcomes after reprocessing implementation in Kenya |
| Nancy Daraiseh, PhD | Anderson Center | 6/1/2018 | 6/30/2020 | Unit-Based Risk Factors Lining Patient Safety & Employee Safety | |
| Maya Dewan, MD, MPH | Critical Care | 1/1/2018 | 12/21/2019 | Harnessing the power of the electronic health record to predict and prevent clinical deterioration in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit | |
| Elizabeth Enlow, MD, MS | Neonatology | 1/1/2018 | 12/31/2019 | Patterns of infant health care use and parental needs after NICU discharge | |
| Jason Long, PhD | Occupational and Physical Therapy | Karen Harpster, PhD | 1/1/2018 | 12/31/2019 | Pilot Study: Addressing Home-Based Functional Challenges via Telehealth-Based OT |
Procter Scholar Grant
The Procter Scholar Program supports faculty members from the Departments of Pediatrics, Surgery, Radiology, Patient Services, and Anesthesia who are committed to pursuing academic research careers.
| PI | Division | Grant Title |
| Nathan Evanson, MD, PhD | Anesthesia | Indirect traumatic optic neuropathy in a murine model of traumatic brain injury |
| Elizabeth Kramer, MD, PhD | Pulmonary Medicine | TGFβ Enhances Airway Smooth Muscle Dysfunction in Cystic Fibrosis via P13K |
| Ravindra Arya, MD, DM | Neurology | Development and validation of methodology for pre-surgical language mapping with stereo-EEG |
| Kathryn (Nicole) Weaver, MD | Human Genetics | Understanding allelic and phenotypic heterogeneity in POLR1A phenotypes |
| Daniel Swarr, MD | Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology | Chromatin State Dynamics in SOX9+ Lung Epithelial Progenitor Cells |
Research, Innovation & Pilot (RIP) Funding Awards
This program provides grants to support collecting preliminary data for innovative and essential projects considered to be good candidates for future external funding. Awardees receiving funding this year include:
| PI | Division | Grant Title | Funding Round |
| Michael Jordan, MD | Immunobiology | A chimeric protein probe for detecting targets of perforin-mediated killing in vivo | 2018-July |
| Steve Crone, PhD | Neurosurgery | V2a neurons restore diaphragm function following SCI | 2018-July |
| Satoshi Namekawa, PhD | Reproductive Sciences | In vivo functions of endogenous retrovirus in the male germline | 2018-July |
| Yuya Ogawa, PhD | Reproductive Sciences | Higher-order chromatin architecture for escape gene regulation on the inactive X-chromosome | 2018-July |
| June Goto, PhD | Neurosurgery | Exome sequencing in human congenital hydrocephalus and imaging analysis in CRISPR mediated genetic rat models | 2018-July |
| Takahisa Nakamura, PhD | Endocrinology/DB | Exploring the role of hepatocyte-derived extracellular vesicles in obesity | 2018-July |
| Zachary Cleveland, PhD | Pulmonary Med & Radiology | Measuring Alveolar Compliance in Lung Fibrosis with Hyperpolarized 129Xe Diffusion Morphometry | 2018-July |
| Lori Stark, PhD, ABPP | BMCP | What makes high birth weight infants at risk for obesity? | 2018-July |
| Chie Emoto, PhD | Clinical Pharmacology | Personalized dosing for pediatric transplant patients using in silico PK simulator | 2018-Nov |
| Weihong Yuan, PhD | Sports Medicine | The influence of repetitive head impact exposure on brain function for cognition and motor coordination: Implications for future injury risk. | 2018-Nov |
| Dough Millay, PhD | MCB | Defining nuclei accrual and heterogeneity in skeletal muscle | 2018-Nov |
| Manoj Pandey, PhD | Human Genetics | Aggregated alph-synuclein-specific immunoglobulin complexes and their role in induction of brain inflammation and neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease | 2018-Nov |
| Saulius Sumanas, PhD | Developmental Biology | Identification of a novel vasculogenesis site | 2018-Nov |
| Greg Myer, PhD, FACSM, CSCS*D | Sports Medicine | Traumatic Brain Injury Biomechanics: Development and validation of realistic computational model defining the mechanistic behavior of brain injury | 2019-March |
| Jianqiang Wu, MD, MS | Experimental Hematology | Complement 5a mediated innate immunity in neurofibroma formation | 2019-March |
| Mark DiFrancesco, PhD | Radiology | Non-contrast Lung Perfusion Mapping Applied for New Insights in Cystic Fibrosis | 2019-March |
Trustee Grant Awards
This program provides research funds for junior faculty to support rapid achievement of independent, sustained extramural funding for their research. This year’s awardees are:
| PI | Division | Grant Title |
| Jennifer Schumacher, PhD | Developmental Biology | Roles of the adaptor protein She in Vegf signaling and vascular maintenance |
| Ting Wen, MD, PhD | Allergy & Immunology | Investigating the roles of FFAR3 in Th2 cytokine production by esophageal lymphocytes |
| Emily Miraldi, PhD | Immunobiology | Transcription regulatory network inference from single-cell genomics measurements |
| Soona Shin, PhD | Pediatric General & Thoracic Surgery | The paracrine role of hepatic progenitor cells in liver cancer |
| Nathan Salomonis, PhD | Biomedical Informatics | New targets for spliceosome therapy in human AML |
| Paritha Arumugam, PhD | Neonatology & Pulmonary Biology | Macrophage engraftment/maintenance and the durability of PMT therapeutic efficacy |
| Yueh-Chiang Hu, PhD | Developmental Biology | Differentiation of primordial germ cells by the genital ridge via BMP signaling |
| Yizhao Ni, PhD | Biomedical Informatics | BRIDGE: A Brain Image-Descriptor Generation Model to assist brain tumor evaluation |
| Lisa Privette-Vinnedge, PhD | CBDI, Oncology | Mechanisms coupling DEK to Wnt signaling and oncogenesis |
| Rachelle Ramsey, PhD | Behavioral Medicine & Clinical Psychology | Using technology-assisted stepped care intervention to improve adherence in adolescents with asthma |
| Lili He, PhD | Neonatology & Pulmonary Biology | Early Prediction of neurodevelopmental Deficits in Very Preterm Infants |
| Massashi Yamaji, PhD | Reproductive Sciences | Deciphering a micro environmental signaling network underlying proliferation and maintenance of spermatogonial stem/progenirot cells. |
| Marina Lopez-Sola, PhD | Anesthesiology | Discovering a nerual signature specific for juvenile fibromyalgia vs. juvenile idiopathic arthritis |
| Natoshia Cunningham, PhD | Behavioral Medicine & Clinical Psychology | Brain Mechanisms of Attention and Pain in Youth with Functional Abdominal Pain Disorders and Comorbid Anxiety |
| Alonzo Folger PhD, MS | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | Linking Adversity, DNA Methylation, and Early Development in Home Visiting PU |
| Makiko Iwafuchi-Doi, PhD | Developmental Biology | Elucidating the pioneering mechanisms of FOXA to establish open and heterochromatin domains during endodermal specifications |
