Areas of Focus
Gastrointestinal Disorders
Dr. Jeffrey Hyams is leading an NIDDK-funded multi-site project called CAMEO: Clinical, Imaging, and Endoscopic Outcomes of Children Newly Diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. Scientists from 26 sites are participating in CAMEO with Connecticut Children’s serving as the lead site. CAMEO examines the association between pre-treatment clinical, radiologic, genomic, and microbial factors and a patient’s ability to achieve complete healing after one year of optimized anti-TNF therapy - personalized anti-TNF biologic therapy guided by therapeutic drug monitoring and a novel dosing algorithm developed by the study team. Dr. Hyams also collaborates with Dr. Sasan Jalili at the Jackson Laboratories for Genomic Medicine to develop a “gut-on-a-chip” model to investigate how gut microbes drive inflammation in ulcerative colitis.
Neonatal Microbiome/Necrotizing Enterocolitis
Microbiome studies led by Dr. Adam Matson seek to determine the influence of bacterial populations and/or their products on neonatal outcomes and intestinal health in premature infants. This research program focuses on genomic and environmental regulation of virulence factors in gut-colonizing Klebsiella; the role of breast milk IgA in limiting Klebsiella pathogenicity; and, bacterial strain transmission/acquisition in necrotizing enterocolitis and neonatal sepsis. A major institutional resource for this research, established and led by Dr. Matson, is the Neonatal Specimen Biorepository. Dr. Matson is also involved in studies to determine how human milk-derived factors influence neurodevelopmental outcomes of premature infants.
Spirochete Research
The Spirochete Research Laboratories (SRL), founded and led by Justin Radolf, M.D., are a fully integrated collaboration between investigators in the Departments of Pediatrics, led by Kelly Hawley, Ph.D., and Medicine, led by Melissa Caimano, Ph.D., with basic and translational research programs in syphilis, Lyme disease, and leptospirosis. Syphilis research in the SRLs centers on the outer membrane proteins of Treponema pallidum, the syphilis spirochete, as vaccine candidates and virulence determinants and the genetic pathways that regulate spirochetal virulence in humans. Lyme disease research centers on the genetic programs that enable Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease spirochete, to transit between ticks and reservoir hosts (principally white-footed mice); humans become infected with Lyme disease when they intrude upon this enzootic cycle and are fed upon by B. burgdorferi-infected ticks. Research on leptospirosis centers on the outer membrane proteins of Leptospira interrogans, a principal cause of the disease, as vaccine candidates and virulence determinants and the genetic programs that enable leptospires to colonize the kidneys of their rat reservoir hosts and survive as free-living bacteria in water and soil contaminated by infected urine.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus
Ian C. Michelow, MD (Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology) and Steven M. Szczepanek, PhD (Department of Pathobiology) lead a translational research program focused on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) pathogenesis in young children. Despite RSV being a leading cause of pediatric hospitalization worldwide, the viral and host factors that drive the highly variable severity of clinical disease remain incompletely understood. This research program addresses a critical knowledge gap by investigating how specific RSV genotypes and viral molecular features contribute to disease severity. Using integrated viral genomic, structural, and functional analyses, the team examines viral determinants of virulence together with host proteomic responses associated with severe infection. Comparative viral genomics and host proteomics are combined with biostatistical modeling to account for key confounders, including demographics, comorbidities, prior immunization, and environmental exposures. The ultimate goal of this work is to define mechanistic links between RSV genetic variation and clinical outcomes, thereby identifying novel targets for therapeutic intervention and vaccine development.
Pediatric Asthma Research
Jessica P. Hollenbach, PhD (Co-Director of the Asthma Center) and Melanie Sue Collins, MD, (Division of Pediatric Pulmonology) lead a translational research program centered on pediatric asthma. The Asthma Center at Connecticut Children’s is committed to the training of investigators and community stakeholders in community-based research.
UConn Indoor Air Quality Initiative
In 2025, Dr. Hollenbach and colleagues from UConn and UConn Health secured a $11.5 million bond from the CT General Assembly to deliver clean air to all Connecticut schools. Titled SAFE-CT (Supplemental Air Filtration for Education in CT), the goal is to provide grants-in-aid to any interested school for materials, capacity building, implementation, and evaluation of DIY air purifiers. A secondary aim is to analyze the environmental microbiome/virome of schools. Leveraging filters deployed across schools, Dr. Hollenbach will interrogate the microbial and viral community captured within the filters. Working with microbiome and virome expert Yanjiao Zhou, MD/PhD, the goal will be to characterize the efficacy of DIY purifiers in sequestering bioaerosols in school environments. The potential impact from this cost-effective public health intervention could dramatically improve health and academic outcomes for students across CT.
