A Day in the Life of The ReseARch InsTITuTe

A PubLIcATIon of The ReseaRch InsTITuTe aT naTIonwIde chIldRen’s hospITal

research

7:30 a.M.daYBReaK

A crescent moon appears above Research Building II as dawn breaks on a beautiful Ohio Tuesday morning.

The ReseaRch InsTITuTe at nationwide children’s hospital | 1

Twenty-four hours from now, Nationwide Children’s Hospital

will not be the same hospital it is at this moment. Knowledge

will grow. Possibilities will emerge. Enthusiasm will escalate.

Lives will be changed through discovery.

As the research engine of Nationwide Children’s, The Research

Institute is a key contributor to this daily transformation. Each

day begins with a sense of excitement and mission. Innovative

experiments are conceived and carried out by our research teams,

data are collected and careful analyses are conducted. Data are

collaboratively shared among faculty, staff and students. We

strive for exciting conclusions, but sometimes more questions

arise than answers. We persevere, stubbornly emboldened by the

potential that scientific inquiry will lead to better health for

children and their families. The beat goes on.

In this issue of reSearch, we provide you with snapshots of a

“typical Tuesday” in a day in the life of The Research Institute.

Through this photographic timeline, we hope you will appreciate

the heart and soul of one of the top pediatric research centers in

the United States.

leadeRshIpThe Research Institute at nationwide children’s hospital

John a. Barnard, MdPresident

lauren o. Bakaletz, phdVice President, Basic Sciences Research

Kelly Kelleher, Md, MphVice President, Health Services Research

william e. smoyer, MdVice President, Clinical and Translational Research

Grant Morrow III, MdMedical Director

daniel R. MannVice President, Research Administration and Operations

Katherine s. MilemVice President, Research Business Services

researchWriter and editorMelissa hamilton

Art DirectorsJohn ordaz Tanya Burgess Bender

PhotographersBrad smithdan smith

Manager, Research communicationsJan arthur

contact us at ResearchMagazine@nationwidechildrens.org

research is dedicated to the

mission of informing and inspiring

readers by highlighting scientific

performance at The Research Institute

at nationwide children’s hospital.

This publication is produced

biannually by the Marketing and

Public Relations Department at

nationwide children’s hospital.

fALL/WInTeR 2008

John Barnard, MDPresidentPresidentThe Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Professor of PediatricsThe Ohio State University College of Medicine

reSearch

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8:03 a.M.FocusInG on FIRsT-RaTe FacIlITIes

Phil Bowers helps Mary Connell from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia pour off excess liquid nitrogen from shipping containers holding tissue samples that are being sent to Boston.

As facilities manager at The Research Institute, Bowers begins his work day at 6 a.m. and spends his early hours walking through and “waking up” the research buildings. Bowers checks for alarms, notes equipment problems and performs safety checks. By the time he completes his rounds he will have covered every floor in the 300,000 square feet of research space, trekking through more than 90 labs.

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9:18 a.M.Fedex FRenzY

This Tuesday is like every other weekday in the Biopathology Center. Staff members receive between 20 and 40 FedEx packages containing pediatric and adult cancer samples from hospitals all across North America. After the samples are unpacked, they are entered into a detailed, secure database. Tissue samples are prepared for digital microscopy and shared with other national experts using a virtual microscope. Some samples are carefully catalogued for storage in a liquid nitrogen freezer, while others undergo clinical testing to help make vital cancer treatment decisions.

The Biopathology Center is funded by the National Cancer Institute and serves as the data repository for cancer samples from more than 500 hospitals. Specimens from this Center are used for cancer research in institutions worldwide. Because of the Biopathology Center, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital receives more grant funds from the Children’s Oncology Group than any other national program.

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9:24 a.M.FRoM BedsIde To Bench and BacK aGaIn

Dr. W. Joshua Frazier is both a researcher in the Center for Perinatal Research and a critical care clinician at Nationwide Children’s. Shown here in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, (top), Dr. Frazier facilitates patient rounds and discusses clinical cases with colleagues.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Yusen Liu, Dr. Frazier is studying septic shock, a condition he has seen affect many of his critical care patients. Using mouse models of sepsis and septic shock, Dr. Frazier measures markers and pathways of inflammation with hopes of identifying key molecular interactions that will lead to improved treatment of critically ill children.

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10:00 a.M.MIndInG The MedIa

Dr. Lara McKenzie, a faculty member in the Center for Injury Research and Policy, prepares for an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America regarding her diving injury research. Later this same week, Dr. McKenzie would provide interviews to additional media outlets including USA Today and U.S.News & World Report.

Collectively, the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s garners millions of media impressions annually.

10:35 a.M. calIBRaTInG a cRITIcal coRe ResouRce

Dave Dunaway calibrates a flow cytometer, a highly sophisti-cated instrument used for identifying and sorting cells. Dave places colored beads in the flow cytometer to mimic cells and evaluates the accuracy of the machine’s four lasers by studying color graphs produced on his computer monitor.

The Flow Cytometry Core is one of 13 Shared Research Services at The Research Institute. Scientists are charged a users fee, creating a cost efficient way to keep state-of-the-art technology available to all the scientists at The Research Institute.

10:16 a.M. execuTIve exchanGe

President of The Research Institute Dr. John Barnard, (right), meets with Nationwide Children’s Chief Operating Officer Rick Miller and other hospital administrators during a facilities meeting. Dr. Barnard regularly meets with hospital administration to discuss activities at The Research Institute, including details regarding Research Building III, soon to break ground.

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10:45 a.M.FacIlITaTInG FInance and FundInG

Director of Sponsored Projects, Aaron Ufferman, works at his desk. Behind him appears a monthly list of upcoming grant applications for faculty under his purview. The Finance and Sponsored Projects Department supports grant and contract funding from the start of a search for funding through the closeout of a project.

11:00 a.M. assIsTInG The assIsTanTs

Roy Goudy of Research Information Services helps Administrative Assistant Char Cameron sign onto a training program used to update faculty biographical sketches on The Research Institute’s Internet site. The Research Institute’s overhead provides outstanding administrative and information technology support for its scientists.

11:15 a.M. cRoss-caMpus collaBoRaTIon

Ohio State University residents, Drs. John Novak and W. David Arnold, prepare to meet with Dr. Zarife Sahenk in the Center for Gene Therapy, to review muscle biopsies. Like most research faculty members, Dr. Sahenk works closely with colleagues at The Ohio State University Medical Center and serves as a professor in the OSU College of Medicine.

noon shuTTlInG BeTween sITes

In 2007, Nationwide Children’s began a shuttle service to The Ohio State University Medical Center. An average of 80 students, faculty and staff members ride the shuttle each day. The shuttle service is one of many services and programs designed to enhance interaction between the campuses.

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12:14 p.M.seMInaR seRIes

Dr. Kurt Albertine of the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, presents his research on bronchopulmonary dysplasia at a seminar in the Research Building II amphitheater. The Research Institute holds such seminars twice a week, featuring visiting scientists from all over the world.

12:40 p.M.couch-sIde collaBoRaTIve

Research associates Adam Nation and Michele Patak discuss plans for a research project exploring the relationship between safety practices and impulsivity, a collaborative effort between the Center for Biobehavioral Health and the Center for Injury Research and Policy. Adam and Michele work under the supervision of Dr. Lara McKenzie, a safety expert, and Dr. Brady Reynolds, a psychologist with expertise in impulsive behavior. The project is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At The Research Institute, collaboration between research centers is commonplace.

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1:10 p.M.a sTudenT’s schedule

Chelsea Bolyard injects a drug into cultured cancer cells to test an alternative gene therapy treatment for ovarian cancer. As a third-year graduate student at The Ohio State University and a member of the Center for Gene Therapy, Chelsea divides her time between Dr. Jeff Bartlett’s lab at Nationwide Children’s and classes on the main OSU campus. Annually, more than fifty graduate students from OSU receive training at The Research Institute.

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2:06 p.M.coMMuTInG FoR

clInIcal ReseaRch

12-year-old Caroline Brendsel begins a study visit with Clinical Research Coordinator Kassi Speakman in the

Clinical Studies Center. Caroline has been participating in a research

trial for hereditary angiodema, a rare genetic disorder that causes

intermittent severe tissue swelling, sometimes in vital areas of the body.

As part of the trial, the test medication is delivered via a central venous line.

Although the initial portion of the phase III clinical trial is complete,

Caroline receives the medication under an open label protocol. Caroline and

her mother faithfully make the 100-mile round trip from south of

Lancaster, Ohio to Nationwide Children’s two to three times a week

as they have done for three years.

Hundreds of other children visit the Clinical Studies Center annually as participants in dozens of local and

national clinical research trials.

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3:00 p.M.scRuTInIzInG huMan ReseaRch sTudIes

Members of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Nationwide Children’s meet twice a month on Tuesday afternoon. This 19-member board provides critical oversight of all research involving human subjects at Nationwide Children’s and its affiliated institutions. The IRB has the authority to approve, require modifications in, or disapprove all research activities that fall within its jurisdiction. This function is federally-mandated and regulated by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration. The Nationwide Children’s IRB was among the first of such committees in the United States to be fully electronic.

3:32 p.M.a pReMIeR pRoGRaM FoR oTITIs MedIa pRevenTIon

Laura Novotny, senior research associate in the laboratory of Dr. Lauren Bakaletz, checks a bacterial culture to make sure it is sufficient for her experi-ment, which will test how well vaccine candidates block bacterial adherence.

As part of the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, the team led by Dr. Bakaletz is an international leader in understanding immune mechanisms in the middle ear. The group is working on a promis-ing vaccine to prevent ear infections in children, one of the most common childhood illnesses.

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4:07 p.M.InTeRnaTIonal InvesTIGaToR

Postdoctoral fellow Mandar Joshi in the Center for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research processes human and animal cardiac tissue samples by “sealing” them in paraffin wax and placing them in cassettes for use in later research. Clinical cardiac tissue samples are obtained through partnerships with The Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s and The Ohio State University.

As an international employee, Dr. Joshi is on a visa from India. International employees on visas account for about 10 percent of The Research Institute’s total employees and come from 24 countries.

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4:28 p.M. leadInG MusculaR dYsTRophY ReseaRch

Research Assistant Danielle Tucker prepares a muscle biopsy extracted from the left deltoid of a patient with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy being evaluated at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Close To HomeSM Center in Westerville, Ohio.

After the sample is frozen and stained, researchers will examine it to determine whether or not the patient could be a candidate for gene therapy trials to treat limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 2D.

The Mendell Lab is part of the Center for Gene Therapy and is an international leader in muscular dystrophy research. Dr. Jerry Mendell’s group initiated the first U.S. human gene therapy trial directed at Duchenne muscular dystrophy in children and the first national muscular newborn screening study.

4:44 p.M.unITInG scIence and TechnoloGY

Dr. Richard Ransom, principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, inspects an image of a specialized kidney cell known as a podocyte.

Using the graphics editing program Adobe® Photoshop®, Dr. Ransom is able to stack images of the same cell using different fluorescence filters. This allows him to superim-pose images for comparison, in this case, images labeling the actin filaments that make up the cell’s “skeleton” (shown in green), and the heat shock proteins (shown in red) that are expressed when cells are exposed to stress.

Dr. Ransom uses this method to determine whether actin filaments and heat shock proteins are found in the same structures in the cell, since the areas where they co-localize are yellow in the superimposed image. This examination is a first step in studies aimed at treating nephrotic syndrome, one of the leading reasons for kidney disease in children.

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8:54 p.M.ReseaRch aFTeR daRK

As darkness falls, Postdoctoral Fellow Benoit Callendret continues his work. At The Research Institute, scientific discovery often continues late into the evening.

This evening, Dr. Callendret uses the flow cytometer to evaluate a liver biopsy that arrived at 8:30 a.m. He is quantifying the frequency of hepatitis C virus-specific T cells in order to develop a baseline for an upcoming study. The study aims to assess whether or not identified hepatitis C virus-specific T cells are functional in the context of chronic infection. This research will be the first of its kind to be performed directly in vivo.

Dr. Callendret is part of Dr. Chris Walker’s team in the Center for Vaccines and Immunity. Dr. Walker is an international leader in hepatitis C virus research.

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