University of Michigan

The Hartwell Foundation Rewards U-M’s Biomedical Research

April 1, 2008

For the second straight year, The Hartwell Foundation has named The University of Michigan one of the country’s top ten biomedical research universities, awarding $700,000 in research support to two faculty members and one postdoctoral researcher.

Last Fall, the designation of U-M as a Hartwell 2007 Top Ten Center of Biomedical Research offered the University the opportunity to nominate four candidates for consideration as Hartwell Investigators. In making the nominations, the University also qualified to receive one Hartwell Fellowship to fund a postdoctoral researcher. In this year’s Hartwell competition, two Michigan scientists were named 2007 Hartwell Investigators, making U-M this year, one of only two institutions in the country to have multiple researchers honored with these prestigious awards. Based in Memphis, Tenn., The Hartwell Foundation supports innovative and cutting-edge biomedical applied research with the potential to benefit children. It funds early-stage projects that have not yet qualified for grants from traditional sources.

U-M faculty members Charles A. Cain (Ph.D. ’72) and Daniel H. Teitelbaum will each receive $100,000 a year for three years as 2007 Hartwell Investigators. Cain is the Richard A. Auhll Professor of Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Founding Chair of the Department. Dr. Teitelbaum is Professor of Surgery in the Medical School. Postdoctoral researcher Megan Ballinger (Ph.D. ’07), Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, will receive $50,000 a year for two years as a 2007 Hartwell Fellow.

Professor Cain’s innovative project will pursue “knifeless” surgery of the developing fetal heart, using high intensity ultrasound guided by real-time imaging. He is particularly interested in noninvasive fetal surgery to prevent the development of ventricular hypoplasia, a severe congenital heart disease that obstructs blood flow to either ventricle of the fetal heart. The disorder is currently treated after birth with three-stage reconstructive heart surgery, leading to a poor prognosis for the child’s long-term health. Cain’s ultrasound approach attacks the problem before birth, creating flow patterns in the heart stimulating normal cardiac development. The highly focused ultrasound creates a cloud of energetic “micro-bubbles” which act as mini-scalpels removing flow obstructions. This is important because flow is a critical stimulus for normal development of the fetal heart.

Dr. Teitelbaum’s pioneering research will explore the potential of an implantable device that can be inserted into the abdominal cavity of infants and children with short bowel syndrome, a condition in which an insufficient length of small bowel leads to life-threatening malnutrition, among other maladies. Teitelbaum’s device lengthens the intestine by a process known as mechanotransduction: the translation of mechanical stress into biochemical signals that stimulate cell function and encourage intestinal growth. Whereas conventional treatments relying on surgical elongation, growth factors and transplantation carry mortality rates of more than 30 percent, Teitelbaum’s device would grow the intestine, improve nutrient absorption and reduce the risk of serious health problems.

Megan Ballinger’s Hartwell Fellow grant will support her research on lung defense mechanisms in neonatal infants. The project builds on her doctoral work, which looked at how factors known as cellular mediators affect lung function after bone marrow transplantation. “The Hartwell Fellowship is helping me expand my ideas and enlarge my vision,” Ballinger explains. “I’ll be able to use my knowledge about immuno-compromised states and apply it to this new study in a way that will help neonatal infants and patients of all ages.” The Hartwell Foundation provides the Fellowship award to support scientists in the early stages of biomedical research careers by enabling them to pursue further specialized training as part of their career development.

“It is an honor for The Hartwell Foundation to provide financial support to these outstanding researchers from U-M,” said Foundation President Frederick Dombrose, Ph.D. “The competition for Investigator awards this year was remarkable, making the final selection very difficult. Participating institutions nominated exceptional individuals, each of whom proposed innovative and cutting-edge science with high relevance in terms of potential benefit to children.”

For more information on The Hartwell Foundation, visit www.thehartwellfoundation.org.

 

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