The Digestive Health Center (DHC) at Cincinnati Children’s is celebrating the recent announcement that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has approved a five-year renewal grant in the amount of $5.85 million. The DHC is one of only 18 Digestive Diseases Research Core Centers in the nation, and is the only pediatric-focused center. Here, Jorge Bezerra, MD, director of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and DHC director at Cincinnati Children’s, answers questions about the center and what this grant means for its continued success.

What is the goal of the DHC?
JB: Our goal is to promote research that will yield insights into pathogenic mechanisms of digestive disease in children, and generate innovative treatments to restore digestive health. Our four focus areas include liver disease and modeling; digestive disease and immunity; digestive disease and obesity; and translational embryology.

Who provides leadership for the DHC?
JB: I am the director, and our associate directors include Aaron Zorn, PhD, who oversees our pilot and feasibility program; Ted Denson, MD, who oversees our enrichment program; and Heidi Kalkwarf, PhD, RD, who oversees our clinical component, which supports biostatistics and the infrastructure to monitor and execute clinical research.

Cynthia Wetzel, PhD, is our center manager, overseeing the day-to-day operations. Due to her scientific training and previous research experience, she is very effective in optimizing the communication between DHC leaders and other members. There is a broad representation of DHC members throughout Cincinnati Children’s, representing 20 divisions within the Department of Pediatrics and seven departments at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Members include physician-scientists and basic scientists.

How does the DHC encourage collaboration?
JB: The greatest sites of collaboration are the scientific cores. There, DHC investigators interact with staff scientists, core directors and other investigators, and explore new projects. Other opportunities to interact include the weekly seminar, where distinguished speakers from outside the center as well as DHC members present their work, thus promoting knowledge sharing and collaboration. We also produce a quarterly newsletter to share news about research awards, DHC events and high-impact research studies published by our members.

What does the NIH funding mean for the DHC? 
JB: DHC funding from the NIH grant provides members with subsidies for services at our highly innovative research cores to accelerate their own research projects. The services include histology and high-resolution cell and organelle analyses, high-throughput gene sequencing and protein expression assays, bioinformatics, and emerging technologies using human pluripotent stem cells and organoids.

Does the DHC provide direct financial support for any research projects?
JB: Yes, through our pilot and feasibility program, which solicits applications from investigators who want to conduct pilot projects for basic, translational, patient-based or outcomes research broadly relating to pediatric digestive disease. Many recipients are junior investigators.

How do the NIH-funded Digestive Diseases Research Core Centers interact with one another?
JB: The directors of the Digestive Diseases Research Core Centers and NIH staff meet annually and are committed to fostering collaborations among investigators regardless of their primary institutional affiliation. In addition, the six centers located in the Midwest established the Midwest Digestive Diseases Research Core Center Alliance approximately five years ago with the goal of catalyzing digestive disease research by sharing resources and fostering collaboration among their investigators. In February 2017, the alliance’s annual symposium took place at Cincinnati Children’s. This event gave pilot and feasibility awardees from all six centers the opportunity to present their work and obtain feedback and career mentoring from seasoned researchers. The people who attended really benefitted from making connections with one another and learning about novel research happening across the six centers.