BIG NEWS for our Ear Community Organization and the Microtia and Atresia community – Genetic research….here we come!
On August 30th, 2018, the Ear Community Organization received amazing news from Dr. Jon Seidman of Harvard University and of Seidman Labs (at Harvard), that the grant application that was submitted to conduct genetic research on Microtia and Atresia in Hispanic populations was accepted through the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program. Investigator, Dr. Jon Seidman (Harvard University), along with Co-Investigators Dr. Roland Eavey (Vanderbilt University) and Melissa Tumblin of the Ear Community Organization, had applied for a couple of grants regarding conducting research in hopes of helping further discover why Microtia and Atresia may happen. Finally, a grant has been approved to help with further research.
Drs. Jon Seidman and Roland Eavey have been conducting research on Microtia and Atresia over the past three decades. We are hopeful that this grant through the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program will help provide the opportunity to take a closer look at any genes that may be in common to causing Microtia and Atresia. Below is the message we received from GMKF:
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“Congratulations! Your X01 application for the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First) titled, “The Genetics of Microtia in Hispanic Populations” has been selected to go forward, as part of the 2018 sequencing pipeline. The program will support the sequencing of approximately 400 samples from your cohort.
Your group will have sequencing done by the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard.”
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– The reason for focusing on the Hispanic population is because the Hispanic population has a higher rate of occurrence with Microtia and Atresia. We also need to have a control group during research. This is just the beginning and we hope our findings will show why Microtia and Atresia happen by associating an in-common allele that may cause Microtia and Atresia. We are also hopeful for some better statistics as well. Thank you to all of the Ear Community families who signed up during our summer picnics to be a part of future research! Grant funds will be utilized by Harvard and MIT researchers and used for testing.
We are extremely thankful for the support through the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program for selecting our grant application as one of the many grants submitted to move forward for research. We are grateful for the support and funds that will be provided during this study for the Microtia and Atresia community. Thank you to Drs. Seidman and Eavey for your continued dedication in researching Microtia and Atresia. Thank you and we are so very excited about this major step toward research on Microtia and Atresia!
– Melissa Tumblin
Ear Community
About Melissa Tumblin
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