Postdoctoral Awards
“The MCHRI postdoctoral support allows me to investigate possible mechanisms that underpin symptoms in Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), a type of eating disorder which onsets in childhood and can lead to psychosocial impairment and severe medical sequelae. This grant enables me to collect important pilot data characterizing interoceptive processes, a potential biological marker for dysregulated eating behavior. We hope these data will support the identification of treatment targets and improve physical and psychosocial outcomes for ARFID.”
Nandini Datta, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
FY 2023 Awards
Danny Hung-Chieh Chou, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics - Endocrinology
Study Title: Insulin Receptor Antagonists for Treating Congenital Hyperinsulinism
Juliet Knowles, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Neurology
Study Title: Thalamocortical Myelin Plasticity in Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome”
Sheth Kunj, MD
Assistant Professor, Urology - Pediatric Urology
Study Title: Evaluation of Congenital Unilateral Hydronephrosis using Artificial Intelligence”
Kathleen Sakamoto, MD, PhD
Professor, Pediatrics - Hematology & Oncology
Study Title: Organoid Models of Pediatric Leukemia
"MCHRI support is integral for our research aiming at developing new therapeutic strategies for patients with Gaucher disease. We strongly believe that our research will provide the proof of concept of a one-time therapy even for the most severe Gaucher disease forms affecting young children. Moreover, this scholarship will allow me to generate additional discoveries that will further the field and our understanding of Gaucher disease therapies."
Marc Francois Philippe Gastou, MS, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Pediatrics (Medical Genetics)
Past Awards
"The MCHRI postdoctoral support enables me to investigate the interplay of neurobiology, genetics, and behavior to improve our understanding of specific learning disorders in childhood. My research aims to identify neurobiological mechanisms underlying learning and to use neuroimaging data for the prediction of reading and mathematical skills in children at high genetic risk for specific learning disorders. Ultimately, we hope this research will allow early identification of learning impairments and development of targeted interventions that will ensure better learning outcomes in children."
Iliana Irini Karipidis, PhD
Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
2020 MCHRI Funded Postdoctoral Fellow
Project Title: Functional Brain Signatures of Learning in Children with Sex Chromosome Aneuploidies: A Model For Neuroendophenotypes in Specific Learning Disorders
"X monosomy (XO) is the most common chromosomal abnormality in miscarriage, with nearly 99% of conceptuses aborting early in pregnancy. This suggests a crucial contribution of the sex chromosomes to early placental development that is not currently appreciated. MCHRI has made it possible for me to leverage the natural experiment of sex chromosome aneuploidy in placenta to investigate the mechanisms of sex-linked pregnancy loss and complication risk."
Amy Braun, PhD
Obstetrics & Gynecology (Maternal Fetal Medicine)
2020 MCHRI Funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Project Title: Determining the Role of Sex Chromosomes in Normal and Abnormal Placentation with Implications for Pregnancy and Child Health
"I am trying to determine how polymorphism in MHC-II locus alters B-cell repertoire and predisposed an individual to autoimmune disorders like type-1 diabetes (T1D) or juvenile diabetes. The MCHRI award will be instrumental to help me achieve the plans as an experimentalist. My immediate future plan is to use data generated from this project to apply for a K99 award to pursue further avenues using in murine model of autoimmune T1D."
Debopam Ghosh, PhD
Pediatrics (Human Gene Therapy)
2019 MCHRI Funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Project Title: MHC Class-II Molecule H2-M Affects the Development and Function of B-1 Cells
"I’m looking forward to the opportunity to use qualitative research to engage with diverse families about how they experience care in California Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). This MCHRI award [postdoctoral support] has allowed me to incorporate family perspectives into the development of measures for family centered care in NICUs."
Krista Sigurdson, PhD
Pediatrics (Neonatal & Developmental Medicine)
2018 MCHRI Funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Project Title: Developing Measures for Family-Centered Care in the NICU