Research

Our lab focuses on understanding infant gut health from a holistic perspective. By combining clinical studies, patient care, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and cell culture/basic science we attempt to discover cause and effect relationships among nutrition, anemia and iron supplementation, intestinal inflammation, and gut microbiota. 

First Research Area: Oral Iron Supplementation

Diagram of the clinical trials process from treatment to sample analysis Our lab, in collaboration with Dr. Ho's clinic, runs a clinical study to analyze the impacts of various oral iron supplementation on the patient's gut health and microbiota. The double-blind study takes stool, urine, and blood samples from low dose and high dose groups for processing at the lab.

Outcomes:

  • Stool microbiome
  • Gut inflammation
  • Intestinal permeability
  • Iron status
  • Auditory myelination

Second Research Area: Gut Health

Gut health is studied in a variety of ways at our lab including:
  • Multiomic analysis of patient microbiota
  • Enteroid and monolayer models of intestinal epithelium and its permeability
  • Measurement of inflammatory markers in patient samples

Third Research Area: Anemia

Anemia and packed red blood cell transfusions often precede the development of necrotizing enterocolitis, a severe intestinal inflammatory disease of prematurity, however, the underlying pathophysiology is unknown. We demonstrated that fecal calprotectin levels, representing mucosal inflammation, increase after red blood cell transfusions and with anemia in very low birth weight infants. We also found anemia in preterm infants is associated with gut dysbiosis, a condition that precedes necrotizing enterocolitis. Further studies to clarify the causal effects of anemia and dysbiosis are ongoing.

Fourth Research Area: Neonatal Pain/AI

Diagram depicting AI prediction of neonatal pain

Developing AI-Driven Pain Intensity and Pain Sensitization Biomarker Signatures to Optimize Neonatal Pain Management

Fifth Research Area: Nutrition/Breast Milk

In collaboration with Ryan Pace, PhD, our lab investigates relationships among breast feeding and maternal/infant microbiomes specifically in relation to iron, lactoferrin, and xanthine oxidase. For more information, please see Dr. Pace's website.

Laboratory Collaborations

Ho lab current collaborators include: