Specialized Center for Clinically Oriented Research (SCCOR) in Pediatric Heart Disease
In early 2004, cardiac research at Children's Hospital was boosted by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which designated the Hospital as a Specialized Center of Clinically Oriented Research (SCCOR) in Pediatric Heart Development and Disease. The Hospital's SCCOR program is a new initiative designed to speed the process by which advances in basic scientific knowledge are translated into innovative treatments for patients. The five-year, $19 million award allows CHOP investigators to transform their research on the genetic causes of congenital heart abnormalities into practical treatments.
The program draws on the talents of multidisciplinary teams, including cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and geneticists. Together, these teams work to develop new tools such as gene-based diagnoses and gene therapy approaches to congenital heart disease and improved biologically based materials for heart surgery, such as heart valves. The Hospital's SCCOR program supports five research projects, all of which seek research directions that can lead to clinical benefits for patients and families: (1) a study of cellular and molecular mechanisms influencing the use of replacement heart valves for children with heart disease; (2) an analysis of the role of certain genes involved in early cardiac development in children with defects of the outflow tract; (3) a study of how genetic alterations affect heart anatomy and clinical outcomes in children with complex congenital heart disease; (4) an investigation of the associations between heart defects and gene rearrangements in and near telomeres; and (5) an initiative drawing on the Human Genome Project to identify genes critical to early heart development, specifically those associated with chromosomal breakpoints.
- Links:
- Cardiovascular Research RAG