Research
 Faculty in the Division of Pediatric Critical Care is actively involved in a variety of basic, translational, clinical and educational research efforts that ultimately aim to improve our understanding of pediatric diseases and our ability to care for critically ill children.
Main focus areas of basic and translational research include pediatric pulmonary hypertension, acute lung injury, brain development and hypoxic-ischemic injury, and congenital heart surgery outcomes. A variety of clinical trials are conducted in the PICU and PCICU, including trials performed in collaboration with other institutions and groups such as the PALISI network. Ongoing educational research involves both curriculum development in simulation and web-based learning as well as educational theory around assessment.
Sanjeev Datar, MD
Dr. Datar is a junior investigator in Dr. Jeffrey Fineman¹s laboratory.
This group is broadly interested in the early determinants of pulmonary vascular disease in the context of congenital cardiac defects. Dr. Datar’s research interests focus on the study of lymphatic vascular biology. Using animal models of congenital heart disease, he is particularly interested in better understanding mechanisms that regulate lung fluid balance. In particular he is interested in structure function analysis of the pulmonary lymphatic system and its response to acute and chronic changes in pulmonary blood flow. Dr. Datar holds an NIH K-12 Pediatric Critical Care Scientist Development grant.
Dr. Fineman is affiliated with the CVRI. His laboratory is interested in regulation of pulmonary blood flow and pulmonary vascular resistance in the fetal, transitional, and postnatal circulations. To study the role of the vascular endothelium in maintaining pulmonary vascular tone in health and disease states, his laboratory uses an animal model of congenital heart disease. In addition, Dr. Fineman directs clinical-translational projects investigating molecules with potential as biomarkers to predict outcome after cardiothoracic surgery for congenital heart disease and is involved in clinical projects investigating agents for therapy and prevention of pulmonary hypertension. Dr. Fineman holds several grants, including a NIH R-01 Research Project grant and a T-32 Training grant.
Dr. King is a member of the laboratory of Dr. Deepak Srivastava, which focuses on understanding the causes of heart disease and on using knowledge of cardiac developmental pathways to devise novel therapeutics for human cardiac disorders. Dr. King's research interests include the biochemical and structure-function analysis of cardiovascularly enriched proteins important for cardiovascular development in humans. Her work has focused on a specific family of transcription factors named HRT1, 2 and 3 (Hairy-Related Transcription factors 1, 2, and 3) which are members of the large class of basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors. Her group has identified co-factors for these proteins that have important combinatorial regulatory effects on gene transcription. In addition, they have sequenced the coding regions of HRT1 and 2 of patients with congenital heart disease and have identified mutations within a highly conserved carboxy-terminal region of HRT. Her group is currently undertaking further studies to better characterize the function of this domain. Dr. King holds a NIH K-08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development grant.
John Li
Dr. Li is a junior investigator in Dr. Dean Sheppard's laboratory at the Lung Biology Center located on the Mission Bay campus. He investigates the precise molecular mechanisms that regulate lung epithelial and endothelial interactions in inflammatory conditions. Central to understanding lung epithelial-endothelial interactions is identifying key signaling pathways involving matrix proteins, tight junction molecules, and immune cell responses to inflammatory stimuli. Dr. Li is currently focused on understanding the role of junctional adhesion molecules (JAMs) in regulating leukocyte trafficking and vascular permeability. A second area of investigation involves understanding the role of integrin beta-8 on immune cells in regulation of host response to LPS and infectious pneumonia in rodent models of acute lung injury. Implications of his research endeavors include identifying therapeutic targets for ameliorating capillary leak syndromes observed in over-exuberant inflammatory diseases such as acute lung injury and sepsis.
Dr. McQuillen’s research focuses on early hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and cortical plasticity. In his laboratory, small animal models of brain injury are used to investigate anatomical and physiologic changes in the visual pathways during critical periods for plasticity. In addition, Dr. McQuillen directs clinical projects using advanced magnetic resonance imaging and multimodal neuromonitoring to understand timing and mechanism of brain injury in neonates with congenital heart disease. Dr. McQuillen holds a NIH K- 02 Independent Scientist grant.
Dr. Oishi’s research focuses on the mechanisms that link congenital cardiac defects with the development of pulmonary vascular disease. His current efforts are aimed at the development of novel models of pulmonary venous hypertension. In addition, Dr. Oishi is developing the use of ex vivo studies of isolated pulmonary arteries and veins, in order to understand the basic mechanisms underlying the pathology created by the models. Dr. Oishi holds a NIH K-08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development grant, as well as Scientist Development grants from the Pulmonary Hypertension Association and Actelion Ltd. He conducts his research in collaboration with Dr. Jeffrey Fineman within the Cardiovascular Research Institute.
Dr. Anil Sapru has a Masters Degree in Advanced Studies in Clinical Research from UCSF. His primary research interest is to study the role of genetic influences on the outcomes of critical illnesses. Specifically, he is studying the role of genetic polymorphisms of genes encoding proteins in coagulation pathways and their association with clinical outcomes in patients with acute lung injury and gene treatment interactions. He has published research work related to acute lung injury, diabetic ketoacidosis, and post-operative management of infants following open heart surgery.
Dr. Sapru conducts his research in collaboration with Dr. Michael Matthay, Professor of Medicine and Anesthesia at UCSF. He is the recipient of a NIHLBI K-23 mentored career development award and is the PI of a prospective clinical observational study entitled "Targeted Genomic Analysis of Coagulation Pathways in Acute Lung Injury" http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00605527.
Sarah Tabbutt, MD, PhD
Dr. Tabbutt’s research focuses on clinical outcomes of infants and children requiring complex neonatal heart surgery. Her particular areas of interest are peri-operative trials, neurodevelopmental follow-up and outcomes of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Dr Tabbutt was a primary investigator in trial design and enrollment for the NHBLI’s Pediatric Heart Network sponsored Single Ventricle Reconstruction Trial which completed enrollment in June of 2008.
Sandrijn van Schaik, MD, PhD
Dr. van Schaik’s academic interests focus on developing and testing new educational programs for pediatric trainees, in particular programs that incorporate educational technologies such as web-based learning and simulation. In addition, she is interested in developing assessment tools, in particular for skills that are either labor-intensive or difficult to assess, such as procedural skills and communication and interpersonal skills. She is the PI on several CHR-approved educational research projects and collaborates with experts from the UCSF Office of Medical Education http://medschool.ucsf.edu/medicaleducation/ , the Center for Instructional technology http://cit.ucsf.edu/ and the Office for Educational Technology http://medschool.ucsf.edu/oet/ both for her curriculum development projects and research. In addition, she is closely involved in programmatic development of the new Kanbar Simulation Center at UCSF http://medschool.ucsf.edu/kanbar/ .
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