News & Updates

Behind every NICHD investigator is a team of students and trainees, learning the ropes one experiment at a time. For them, a summer internship or postdoctoral fellowship may be the turning point that gives direction and momentum to their future careers in science. And for many investigators, the responsibility of training the next generation of scientists is as important as making their next discovery.

The National Institutes of Health is making funding awards of $35 million over the next five years to support the Centers for Collaborative Research in Fragile X program. Investigators at these centers will seek to better understand Fragile X-associated disorders and work toward developing effective treatments.

A recent survey shows that one in four young children (ages birth to 5) are at moderate to high risk for developmental, behavioral, or social delays.1 To raise awareness of these risks and promote early screening, the NICHD has joined the Administration for Children and Families and a number of other federal partners in launching Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive!

Preschool educational interventions have long been studied for their value in preparing children for school. Recent studies, however, indicate that these interventions might do much more, possibly affecting social and emotional skills later in life, and even adult physical health.

This August, we focused on pregnancy—providing information, tips, and resources, plus a chance for members of the public to chat with experts over a Twitter #pregnancychat.

NICHD Director Alan E. Guttmacher, M.D., announced that after a rigorous national search, Catherine Y. Spong, M.D., has been selected as Deputy Director of the NICHD. For the past two years, Dr. Spong has served as the inaugural NICHD Associate Director for Extramural Research and the Director of the Division of Extramural Research.

Using a teaspoon or a tablespoon to give children medicine doubled parents’ chances of giving an incorrect dose, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Learning is easier when it only requires nerve cells to rearrange existing patterns of activity than when the nerve cells have to generate new patterns, a study of monkeys has found. The scientists explored the brain’s capacity to learn through recordings of electrical activity of brain cell networks. The study was partly funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Aspirin is generally not recommended during pregnancy, as it can lead to bleeding problems for both mother and baby. But for some women, the benefits of a daily low-dose aspirin after the first trimester may outweigh the risk.

A series of studies by an NICHD researcher suggests that women who maintain a healthy diet and exercise before they become pregnant are less likely to develop gestational diabetes mellitus, a type of diabetes that occurs only in pregnant women.

A newborn screening test for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) reliably identifies infants with this life-threatening inherited condition, leading to prompt treatment and high survival rates, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Anyone who deals with young children knows that kids act up—and act out—from time to time. But some kids have more trouble than others when it comes to controlling their impulses. Now researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have uncovered an important clue to the thought processes underlying some children’s persistent problem behavior.

Based on a study of fetal sheep, scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health believe they may have found a clue to the heightened risk of heart disease seen in people who were born at low birthweight to mothers malnourished during pregnancy. The finding one day may lead to new ways to treat or even prevent heart disease in this group of people.

Ensuring the health and wellbeing of pregnant women and newborns is central to the NICHD mission. Scientists supported by our Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch (PPB) conduct research related to improving care for pregnant women and newborns, preventing preterm labor and birth and other birth complications, and treating diseases in newborns.

Many people are familiar with the health effects of cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke. Research has also tied smoking during pregnancy to later health and behavior problems in children. This podcast round-up features three interviews with NICHD grantees interested in the connections between maternal smoking and child health.

This month the NICHD and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) reissued two funding announcements, inviting grant applications for the development of methods to assess placental development and function. The Institutes intend to commit an estimated total of $2 million to small businesses in 2015 to support this research.

A year-round preventive drug treatment substantially reduces young children’s risk of contracting malaria and poses no serious risk of adverse events, according to a study by researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have created high-resolution images of the glutamate receptor, a protein that plays a key role in nerve signaling. The advance, published online in the journal Nature on August 3, 2014, opens a new window to study protein interactions in cell membranes in exquisite detail.

A new study has succeeded in creating detailed images of one group of receptors—the glutamate receptors—and this discovery may lead to therapies for these and other diseases and conditions.

Clinical Center researchers have identified the genetic defect underlying the disease for the first admitted patient at the Hatfield Clinical Research Center.