Pediatric Infectious Disease Research
Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease faculty are actively engaged in numerous investigations that provide an invaluable opportunity to learn the most modern molecular biologic techniques and clinical investigation approaches, and to apply these to common clinical problems in pediatrics.
The Division has a long-standing history in clinical investigation and has published landmark papers in many areas, including:
- Clinical trials of anti-inflammatory agents in bacterial meningitis
- Diagnostic studies using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in congenital syphilis and pneumonia
- Studies of endotoxin concentrations in body fluids of infants and children with meningococcal or Haemophilus meningitis, and correlating these values with outcomes
In many cases, faculty and fellows partner with the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and investigators in the School of Public Health on collaborative projects.
- Jeffrey Kahn's areas of scientific research include emerging pathogens, respiratory syncytial virus, human metapneumovirus, and rhabdoviral vectors.
- Dawn Wetzel is involved in investigations of the entry of Leishmania.
- Natasha Hanners explores the pathogenesis of flavivirus infection.
- Amanda Evans is involved in clinical investigations of pediatric HIV, congenital syphilis, and parechovirus infections.
- Zachary Most interests include epidemiological investigations using wastewater surveillance.
- Michael Sebert focuses on infection control and prevention strategies.
- Yeh Chung (Daniel) Chang’s area of interest includes antimicrobial therapies in the immunocompromised host.
Research areas include:
- Respiratory viruses
- HIV/AIDS
- Microarray analyses to identify unique genetic signatures of children with various infectious diseases, particularly RSV and MRSA
- Neonatal infections
- Immunogenetic profiles of children with various infections
- Respiratory syncytial virus
- Infection control and prevention
The Division has established collaborative research programs with members of the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology at UT Southwestern. The principal goals of these collaborative projects are:
- To delineate the molecular immunobiologic basis for the pathogenesis of certain infectious diseases in pediatrics
- To define and control the inflammatory processes involved in bacterial infections, such as bone and joint infections
- To develop the immunobiologic profiles of children with infectious diseases
On average, Division faculty members publish 10 to 12 research papers per year in peer-reviewed journals. All fellows participate in research projects with the faculty.