Research Interest

Major Research Interests

Current

1. Focus:  defining the mechanisms which determine lean body mass in premature infants
   Rationale:  growth failure is common in premature infants in the neonatal ICU
   Major findings:  the etiology of decreased lean body mass among premature infants is multi-factorial
   
   
2. Focus:  Defining treatment strategies to improve the care of infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)
   Rationale:  there are currently no scientifically-proven effective therapies to treat infants with NAS

Past

1. Focus:  understanding how hyperoxia modulates protein synthesis in the lung
   Rationale:  lung injury and abnormal lung growth and development are common findings among premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit where infants are commonly exposed to high inspired concentrations of oxygen
   Major Findings:  modulation of global protein synthesis during hyperoxia is part of complex adaptive signal transduction program known as the integrated stress response which slows translation to conserve energy and induces the expression of transcription factors that enhance the synthesis of chaperones, immune-modulators, and factors integral to redox balance
   
   
2. Focus:  delineating the capacity for hyperoxia to enhance the translation of mRNA via non-classical (cap-independent) processes
   Rationale:  in the presence of global repression of mRNA translation, the expression of select proteins is commonly enhanced
   Major findings:  the translational efficiencies of some transcripts containing internal ribosome entry sites (IRES) are enhanced in O2-induced lung injury and O2-induced retinopathy