What We Do
Eliminating Negative Health Outcomes for Premature InfantsWhy We Study Premature Infants
Prematurity is not a disease, but rather it is a developmental state that is happening in suboptimal conditions
The Center for the Science of Early Trajectories was founded by Erika Claud, MD, who has dedicated her career to better understanding the foundational life stage where all of our lives began, infancy. Neonatologists like Dr. Claud have spent decades trying to improve outcomes for premature infants with mixed success. Full-term infants complete their gestation in-utero, where our prenatal development evolved to occur. For infants born premature, or before 37 weeks gestational age, they must complete this developmental stage instead in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Survival rates for preterm infants has increased significantly in recent decades, with the first infants benefiting from modern practices reaching adulthood and some are nearing middle age. What we have unfortunately found is that their immaturity and underdevelopment at birth has lasting consequences.
Preterm infants are at higher risk than their full-term peers for several common diseases and disorders such as asthma, autism spectrum disorder, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, among others. These conditions also affect children and adults who were born full-term. By studying the development of premature infants in the NICU and after they graduate, we can pinpoint the origins of these health outcomes and create targeted interventions, preventing them in the first place. The SET Center aims to do this by identifying biomarkers for organ development.
Incubator of Research
The SET Center is as an incubator that brings together the pioneering expertise at the University of Chicago to identify biomarkers of human development throughout the life course by studying premature infants. Identified biomarkers for organ development would allow healthcare providers to intervene when a patient has veered off the optimal developmental trajectory for their age, whether due to preterm birth or other influences, and put them back on the best path. We have the potential to prevent disease for all patients from the moment they are born.
In order to achieve this goal, the SET Center brings together scientists from diverse areas of study. We will have the greatest impact studying alternative biomarkers simultaneously given that development is a complex process involving multiple systems. Our strategic approach mobilizes research teams from across the institution by breaking down barriers to answer this broad research question, and bring in novel ways of thinking. We have the resources to support whatever need a project may have.
What is a biomarker?
The NIH defines biomarkers as a subcategory of medical signs and can be detected through different tests and procedures. Examples of biomarkers include:
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- Blood pressure and body temperature.
- LDL cholesterol level and red blood cell count.
- Tumor detected by contrast MRI or bone fracture detected by X-ray.
Bridge-Building
The SET Center knows that neonatologists alone cannot solve all the health problems that premature infants face while in the NICU or after they graduate. We have developed a wide network across the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Medical Center of experts who share their knowledge and collaborate to answer questions about biological development. We have built teams that include scientists from the Department of Chemistry, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, Adult Medicine, Neonatology, Pediatric Oncology, Human Genetics, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, among others.
Breaking Down Barriers
The SET Center knows that many established research labs are interested in hypotheses that relate to biological development but are missing a resource needed to start a new project. That is where we come in. We have extensive experience supporting the needs of scientists intrigued by a new line of questioning. In the past, we have offered the following assistance to projects:
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- Regulatory Support
- Patient Data and Biospecimens
- Bench Science Skills
- Grant Support
- Grad student, clinical fellow, or postdoc
- Micro Grants and Pilot Grants
Interested in learning how we can support your lab? Find out more information on How to Get Involved.
Biorespository
Often a barrier to starting a novel project is the very foundation of clinical research, obtaining patient data and biospecimens. The heart of the SET Center’s work is better understanding the long-term effects of the healthcare we provide today. However it is cost-prohibitive to run an ongoing-outcomes study for each research question. For this reason, the SET Center has built a biorespository that collects and integrates several cohorts from across UChicago to represent all the life stages.
The biorespository includes clinical data on hundreds of patients, outcomes data collected through ongoing neurodevelopmental and physical assessments, thousands of biological samples from various sources, and multi-omics analyses. Some of this data can be accessed by University and UCMC scientists on our data platform, PreSET. Users must be connected to the University network or its VPN to login.
Current Research Areas:
- Modeling microbiome development and its relation to neurodevelopment
- Biomarkers for development
- Outcomes for small for gestational age infants
- Lung maturation and extubation from airway ventilator
- Risk of Type 1 diabetes in formerly premature infants
- Breast milk and infant immune development
- Cell-free DNA in maternal blood and premature birth
- Microbiome development of pediatric oncology patients
- Microbiome development in geriatric patients
