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Mission: The mission of stanley manne children's research institute is to generate new knowledge leading to advancements in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases that affect children's health through adolescence and adulthood. Its multidisciplinary teams of physicians, scientists, technicians, nurses and trainees are committed to making discoveries that will improve the lives of children and their families.
Programs: Introduction stanley manne children's research institute (f. K. A. Ann & robert h. Lurie children's hospital of chicago research center) was established in 1985 as a formalized basic science research program. Stanley manne children's research institute is the research arm of the ann and robert h. Lurie children's hospital of chicago ("lurie children's"). The children's hospital of chicago medical center (the "parent") (fein 36-3357004) is the sole corporate member of stanley manne children's research institute. Mission and vision the mission of stanley manne children's research institute is to generate new knowledge leading to advancements in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases that affect children's health through adolescence and adulthood. Its multidisciplinary teams of physicians, scientists, technicians, nurses and trainees are committed to making discoveries that will improve the lives of children and their families. Research and education lurie children's role as a regional referral center for a variety of childhood diseases and illnesses has created many research opportunities and facilitated the establishment of programs to study and treat these diseases and illnesses. A major step toward confirming lurie children's commitment to scientific research was the establishment of stanley manne children's research institute, through which lurie children's research activities have been substantially expanded to encompass basic translational and clinical research. Today, stanley manne children's research institute operates a state-of-the-art laboratory and research administration facility known as children's research center. Children's research center is a five-story, 125,000 square foot structure located within three miles of lurie children's main facility in chicago. In addition, stanley manne children's research institute conducts research efforts in lurie children's, its outpatient clinics, and in physician and faculty offices. To encourage a synergy of ideas among investigators in various disciplines, stanley manne children's research institute's work is organized around interdisciplinary research programs and centers of excellence. Over 200 investigators, 500 staff members and numerous trainees contribute to the programs in basic research, clinical research, and translational medicine. These programs, led by experts in their disciplines, employ the talents of basic scientists, health care professionals, students, research associates and others to advance their agendas. The research programs are: human molecular genetics; developmental biology program; neurobiology program; cancer biology and epigenomics; clinical and translational research; and the smith child health research program. In addition, the centers of excellence focus on specific child health issues and represent areas that either lie outside of programmatic scope or cross program boundaries. These centers are: center for clinical trials research; center for community partnerships and health promotion; center for interdisciplinary research in pediatric critical illness and injury; center for nueroblastoma research; falk brain tumor research center; and chicago city-wide focis (federation of clinical immunology societies) center of excellence in clinical immunology. Stanley manne children's research institute also operates a predoctoral and postdoctoral training program, with graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and clinical fellows. In addition, stanley manne children's research institute established a biostatistics research core program to support its basic, clinical and translational investigators by providing high quality statistical analyses, including the development of study designs with sufficient sample size to yield significant power calculations. The clinical research achievements of lurie children's include the pioneering efforts of dr. Willis j. Potts, which led to the development of the "blue baby" operation for congenital heart disease, the studies of drs. David hsia and henry nadler on the utility of amniocentesis for the prenatal diagnosis of genetic disorders, fabrication of bronchoscopic instruments for use in pediatric subjects by dr. Paul holinger and the investigation of childhood leukemia under the direction of dr. Mila pierce. These are just a few examples of the contributions that members of lurie children's medical staff have made toward further understanding and treatment of childhood diseases and illnesses. Since the opening of the stanley manne children's research institute in 1985, annual research awards have grown from $5. 5 million to $31. 7 million awarded in fiscal year 2017. These awards are from a highly diverse group of more than 75 governmental agencies, research foundations, pharmaceutical firms and academic institutions, including approximately $14 million in national institutes of health ("nih") funding, making stanley manne children's research institute one of the leading dedicated pediatric research centers in the country in nih funding. Stanley manne children's research institute is one of 23 multidisciplinary centers of northwestern university's feinberg school of medicine and all of its principal investigators are faculty members. Lurie children's is also a participant in northwestern university's ("nu") institute for translational research, a university-wide initiative established to provide a physical and academic home for clinical and translational research. The institute encompasses all six nu colleges and schools and the four affiliated hospitals, including lurie children's. Funding for this initiative is provided by the national institutes of health clinical and translational science award program. Nih is promoting an integrated approach to translational research. Currently, translation of research discoveries into improved patient care is estimated to take an average of 17 years, which this institute will work toward significantly reducing. Basic, clinical and translational research programs stanley manne children's research institute's core programs include research in cancer biology and epigenomics, child health research, developmental biology, clinical and translational research, human molecular genetics and neurobiology. By encouraging a synergy of ideas among investigators in various disciplines, the research center continues to discover new ways to develop medical advances that can better treat sick children. The following is a brief description of selected research activities in each of these areas: cancer biology and epigenomics the overarching goal of the cancer biology and epigenomics program is to uncover molecular mechanisms underlying tumor growth, tumor heterogeneity, and metastasis, and development of drug resistance and to translate such discoveries into new therapeutic strategies. Recent studies, in collaboration with the national human genome research institute at the nih have generated molecular classification(s) of specific tumors, and have provided new prognostic markers and novel targets for therapeutic intervention. In addition, these studies have identified certain genes that are dysregulated during cancer progression and are also aberrant during development, resulting in birth defects. In addition, other studies include research in pediatric tumors and neuroblastoma research; cell signaling in normal and leukemic hematopoiesis; mechanisms of normal and malignant hematopoietic cell development; childhood leukemia and cancer survivorship; defining the sequential genetic changes occurring in cancer and using that information to target therapy; biological processes that regulate adaptation of malignant tumor cells to stressful environments; defining biological markers that shed light on the pathogenesis and/or aid in the therapeutic stratification of pediatric renal tumors and pediatric germ cell tumors; molecular aspects and pathogenesis of brain tumors; identifying mechanisms mediating relationships between clinical depression and susceptibility of lymphoid cells to apoptosis; molecular basis of variability in clinical behavior of pediatric cancers, and the impact of global loss of methylation on tumorigenesis and genome stability. Child health research the scientific mission of the mary ann and j. Milburn smith child health research program is to address important clinical and public health programs that affect children's health through state-of-the-art methodology and interdisciplinary collaborations. The program engages in both population and clinical based research that provides a better understanding of natural history, causes, and psychosocial impacts of common and important child health problems, the collective research also services to clarify the three key factors in the development of child health problems: environmental factors, genetic susceptibility, and growth and maturation. This program is actively engaged in translating new scientific discoveries into effec