Pediatric Respirology

   CONTENTS  

Translational medicine for respiratory diseases in children

In Brazil, approximately 15% of children are affected by obstructive lung diseases, such as asthma or bronchiolitis. To study these children, the Biomedical Research Institute of PUCRS has a unit called Centro Infant (Children’s Center), which is associated with the Research Group on Pediatric Respirology. The Centro Infant includes a group of laboratories that use biological models to unveil the mechanisms of these highly prevalent lung diseases in the Brazilian population and to detect ways of blocking them.

One of the Cerntro Infant’s projects with the greatest impact is a new population study, which began in 2010 with the support of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) to diagnose and identify asthma markers in school-aged boys and girls of low socio-economic level, in Porto Alegre. The perspective is to create new lines of experimental research, following the concept of translational medicine (basic science in combination with patient treatment), seeking to provide an improvement in the quality of life of Brazilian children.

Another important area of interest to the Group is related to the association between premature newborn babies and respiratory disease during the first two years of life. Centro Infant has world-class equipments, unique in Brazil for the evaluation of prematurely born babies capable to determine the mechanisms and risk factors for the inception of longterm respiratory diseases. A series of new studies by the Centro Infant in this field recently received financing from funding agencies.

To further develop investigations on the characteristics of diseases linked to the respiratory systems of children, Centro Infant has a team of specialists, from undergraduates to postdoctoral fellows, under the coordination of Professor Renato Tetelbom Stein. There are three research areas: Epidemiology and risk factors for wheezing, Genetics of asthma, and Prematurity and respiratory disease.

The group maintains inter-institutional agreements with the Children’s Foundation (Fundación Infant, Argentina), the Research Center on Environmental Epidemiology (Centre de Recerca en Epidemiologia Ambiental – Creal, Spain), the University of Queensland (Australia), and Indiana University (USA).