Research Institute Awarded $3.5M to Map Cells in Pediatric Respiratory Tissues
The American Dental Association (ADA) Science and Research Institute, together with other U.S. and international collaborators, has been awarded a three-year, $3.5 million grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to map cells in pediatric respiratory tissues of the nose, mouth and airways.
The American Dental Association (ADA) Science and Research Institute, together with other U.S. and international collaborators, has been awarded a three-year, $3.5 million grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to map cells in pediatric respiratory tissues of the nose, mouth and airways. The investigation, which will study tissue samples from birth through adolescence, seeks to better understand, prevent and treat childhood diseases. The funding is intended to help generate healthy, single-cell reference data for the Human Cell Atlas, an international consortium that aims to map every cell type in the human body.
Kevin Byrd, DDS, PhD, manager of oral and craniofacial research at the ADA Science and Research Institute and one of the principal investigators, notes, “This newly assembled team of partners from across the globe will work collaboratively to understand the common and unique cell types and their signatures that support the development of the airways in healthy children from Malawi, Vietnam, India, Germany, Brazil and the U.S. This atlas of the ‘inhalation interface’ will be curated and open to the scientific and clinical community to accelerate our understanding of disease progression and guide therapeutic strategies in children.”
From Decisions in Dentistry. November 2021;7(11):6.
