Boston Children's Hospital

Though endometriosis is quite common, treatments have changed little in 30 years. Now, research led by Michael Rogers and Victor Fattori uncovers some surprising new endometriosis biology involving crosstalk between the nervous system and the immune system. Most exciting, it suggests that a class of migraine drugs already in use can ease endometriosis pain and shrink the lesions. Rogers is now exploring partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to launch a clinical trial. ??

You can make an impact just like Emily’s Crew, an Eversource Walk for Boston Children's Hospital team that raised $7,300 last year to benefit the hospital’s Nursing Fund. The crew walked in memory of their colleague and friend Emily Gatzke, a beloved nurse in the Primary Care Center. Gather your co-workers and register a team now—for FREE—then join us Sunday, June 8, for this fun and inspiring event: https://lnkd.in/etieuA6E

Like most engineers, Zohreh Izadifar is a problem solver. Skilled in tissue engineering, biofabrication, and stem cell techniques, she is now focused on organ-on-a-chip technology. Now in our Urology Department, she is creating an organ chip that models the lower urinary tract mucosa to study urinary tract infections (UTIs) in hopes of finding alternative treatments. She also plans to create chip models of neurogenic bladder, urinary incontinence, and interstitial cystitis, also known as painful bladder syndrome. ??

Boston Globe Media touches on the challenges parents face finding balance with their children when it comes to screen time. Michael Rich, MD, MPH, offers five practical tips to help parents navigate screen time in a healthy way and pivoting to teaching media literacy. These steps can help benefit both kids and parents alike with balance. Tune in to The Globe Podcast to discover how to raise healthy, screen-savvy kids with better habits! ??

A recent JAMA viewpoint authored by Drs. Benjamin Rader and John Brownstein evaluates the US measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine recommendations based on the latest epidemiological trends. Learn more about how the findings aim to better protect at-risk communities and the most vulnerable population -infants - against measles infection. ??

Nancy Andrews, Chief Scientific Officer, and Faye Holder-Niles, Director of the Primary Care Asthma Program, were among the speakers at the recent 4th annual Women in Science Symposium. The inspiring event, hosted by Boston Children's Office of Faculty Development and Harvard Medical School, provided diverse perspectives from women scientists across the Harvard-affiliated institutions on the topic of "building a community of leaders." ??

Dr. Snehal Shah, MPH – a Boston Children’s primary care doctor and the Associate Medical Director for Community Integration in the Department of Accountable Care and Clinical Integration - spoke at a legislative briefing last week for funding for the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), which provides fresh, healthy, and locally-grown fruits and vegetables for children and families in Massachusetts. Food insecurity is associated with a variety of poor health and school outcomes for children of all ages. In Dr. Shah’s words: “HIP makes it easier for kids to be as healthy as they can be.” Thank you to Representative Mindy Domb, Senator Jo Comerford, Representative Natalie M. Blais, and all the state legislators who showed their support for HIP on Thursday. Thank you to the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative for hosting!

Fruits and vegetables contain a variety of small molecules that promote our health, some of them used in pharmaceuticals or dietary supplements. ???? This work led by our own Seth Rakoff-Nahoum, published in Cell, suggests that we could get more out of these food compounds by harnessing specific bacteria in our intestinal microbiome (or the enzymes they produce) to break down and activate these compounds. Experiments also showed that bacterial metabolism of food compounds contributes to intestinal immune regulation and protection from C. difficile infection. Rakoff-Nahoum envisions combining specific foods or food molecules with certain bacteria to help fight intestinal infections and to treat inflammatory bowel disease.??

Firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States, yet research on firearm injury prevention receives significantly less federal funding compared to other major pediatric health concerns. A new piece in Pediatrics from Drs. Lois Lee, Alex Butler, and Nancy Andrews calls for an increased investment into firearm-injury prevention research to address rising injury and fatality rates in the U.S. Read more ??

When a baby is born with low muscle tone (hypotonia), diagnosis can be a lengthy process with multiple tests, and the future can be hard to predict. An international consortium study co-led by Sarah Morton in our Division of Newborn Medicine confirms the value of early genomic sequencing in these newborns. ??