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Critical Care Medicine

Research

Clifford W. Bogue, M.D., F.A.A.P.: Dr. Bogue's research interests include the basic mechanisms of organ development and vasculogenesis, including the role that homeobox transcription factors play in early liver and cardiovascular development; and, stem cell biology in organ repair and regeneration. His clinical research projects include: 1) measuring brainstem-evoked potentials to monitor the level of sedation in mechanically ventilated infants and children; 2) glucose control in critically ill children; and 3) effectiveness of Rapid Response Teams in pediatrics.

Michael Apkon, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., F.A.A.P. has led a study in performance improvement in the care of critically ill children. Overall he is interested in the application of computerized decision support technology, informatics, and other tools to facilitate health care quality measurement and improvement; and, the application of operational research methodologies to understand delivery of healthcare.

Isaac Lazar, M.D., researches disease caused by respiratory Syncytial virus (RSV). RSV as one of the most common viruses infecting children and adults. RSV can cause a wide spectrum of disease severity, from mild upper respiratory tract infection to life threatening disease. Working with Dr. Jeffrey S. Kahn in his section of pediatric infectious diseases, my aim is to understand the mechanisms that causes one patient to have a mild disease while another might need ICU care. In order to answer these questions I follow patients with a wide spectrum of disease severity. Using molecular biology techniques, I analyze different sections of the RSV genome looking for genetic markers that will correlate with disease severity. Another aspect of my research is looking on the RSV-host interaction by using respiratry epithelial cell cultures infected with different RSV samples collected from patients treated in Yale-New Haven health system - looking on differences in the cytokines induction by the clinical isolates, and correlating them to the clinicl picture. Another project is looking on the RSV evolution in patients with immune deficiency that are shedding the virus over a long time. The aim of this project is to look for mutation evolving in the virus and try to correlate these viral mutations with resistance to immune replacement therapy these patients are receiving.

Mustafa Khokha, M.D., is interested in the mechanisms that generate pattern in the vertebrate embryo. One of the extraordinary mysteries of human development is how a simple symmetrical fertilized egg is transformed into a child - some of the most critical patterning events that place the head one on side and the legs on the other side of this newborn are not well understood. In my lab, we seek to understand the early molecular mechanisms that instruct certain tissues to differentiate into different kinds of structures based on the overall body plan. In order to dissect out these molecular signals, we use genetic analysis. Primarily, we have pioneered the use of frog genetics using Xenopus tropicalis which is a major tool in the lab. In addition, we have employed mouse genetics as well. For more details on frog genetics.