COVID-19, Book Launch, Kidney Week, Research Achievement Award

This week's In the News starts with a COVID-19 update from the PolicyLab's COVID-19 modeling project, which was highlighted in several media outlets in the past week. Move on to find out about the launch of a new open-access resource for academic innovators, and learn about Children's Hospital of Philadelphia research presented at Kidney Week. Lastly, find out who received a Research Achievement Award from the American Heart Association.

COVID-Lab Forecasting Model Highlights Variation in Regional COVID-19 Transmission

Several media outlets featured PolicyLab's COVID-Lab forecasting model in the past week, including NPR and the Washington Post, both of which included comments from PolicyLab Director David Rubin, MD, MSCE. Transmission across northern New England in some counties is at the highest since last winter, according to the most recent modeling data. States with the most quickly increasing test positivity include New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, California, Nevada, and Utah. The model forecasts rising transmission in the Phoenix region, Colorado, and in Michigan.

"Now with the holiday gatherings coming in, you're going to see national incidence rise. The question is how much," Dr. Rubin said in the Washington Post article. "And it all depends on what happens in these large population centers, which are highly vaccinated."

Read more about the PolicyLab's latest forecast in their blog.

Flaura Winston, MD, PhD, is a co-editor of Academic Entrepreneurship for Medical and Health Scientists

CHOP and Penn Collaborators Launch Open Access Resource for Academic Entrepreneurship

The CHOP and Penn community gathered to celebrate the launch of "Academic Entrepreneurship for Medical and Health Scientists," an open access resource of tools, advice, and best practices that establishes a knowledge foundation for academic researchers and innovators. Dozens of Penn and CHOP expert-authors created the eBook. Flaura Winston, MD, PhD, director of the CHOP Innovation Ecosystem, is a co-editor along with Nalaka Gooneratne, MD, MSc, and Rachel McGarrigle, MSEd, of the University of Pennsylvania.

"For those of us in pediatric medicine, we have an extra lift to take our discovery to commercialization because the commercial market for devices and therapeutics is small," Dr. Winston said at the book launch celebration Nov. 10. "We need to be effective and efficient in translating discoveries into value. Our vision is that the Academic Entrepreneurship eBook and community provides the just-in-time learning resource in conjunction with existing mentorship pathways at CHOP."

Learn more about the resource in this Cornerstone post.

CHOP Researchers Present at Kidney Week

CHOP Researchers presented a study at the American Society of Nephrology's Kidney Week 2021, which was subsequently highlighted in Renal & Urology News.

In the study, Gregory E. Tasian, MD, MSc, MSCE, attending urologist at CHOP, found that in a large cohort of children with primary hyperoxaluria (PH), dialysis and renal transplant occurred before diagnosis, suggesting significant morbidity when the diagnosis is delayed. The retrospective study included 341 patients identified in PEDSnet. They found that most patients who underwent renal transplant were transplanted before cohort entrance day, and that dialysis was initiated in most before cohort entry date.

"Medications for the organs affected by calcium oxalate deposition were consistently prescribed before diagnosis, suggesting an opportunity for early PH identification to be initiated that may enable tailored therapy to potentially delay or prevent need for dialysis and transplant," the researchers concluded.

Read the abstract at the American Society of Nephrology website.

Daniel Rader Honored with AHA Research Achievement Award

Daniel J. Rader, MD, chief of the Division of Human Genetics, received the 2021 Research Achievement Award from the American Heart Association, in recognition of his contributions to basic and translational research in the genetics and pathophysiology of lipids. His research has contributed to the development of therapies for dyslipidemia.

"Ensuring that knowledge gleaned from research is used to develop new approaches to unmet needs provides scientists like me a great incentive, hoping to continue improving patient care and patient outcomes," said Dr. Rader, who is also the Seymour Gray Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Find out more in a Penn Medicine press release.

ICYMI

Catch up on our headlines from our October 29 In the News:

• Beverage Tax Linked to Reduction of Soda Drinking Among Philadelphia Teens
• And the Early Investigator Award Goes to … Wesley Baker, PhD
• CHOP Plus YouTube Equals Informative Vaccine Videos
• Study Reveals Discovery Regarding Adenovirus Infection and Double-stranded RNA

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