FNNDSC Newsletter: August 1st
- FNNDSC
- Aug 1
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 28
Upcoming Center-Wide events:
August Lecture Series Calendar:
Speaker: Kiho Im, PhD
Associate Scientific Research Staff
Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School
Title: "Developing MRI biomarkers of early neurodevelopment: Methods and Progress"
Date: Wednesday, August 6th, 10-11 AM, Hancock Conference Room
If you are interested in suggesting a speaker for the FNNDSC Lecture Series, please use the form below to make your recommendation:
August Coffee Social & Photography Class:
Date: Wednesday 8/13 10-11 am, South Boston Conference Room
Workshops from the OMBUDS Office:
8/25 10-11 AM - FNNDSC Research Fellows
9/22 10-11 AM - FNNDSC Research Staff
9/24 10-11 AM - FNNDSC Faculty
What they do: External Website & Internal Website
Workshop topics:
Introduction to the OMBUDS Office and its services at BCH
Building trust, resilience, communication, and accountability within teams
Strategies for managing a team and mentoring
Managing stress and staying positive amid challenges
Upcoming Holiday Closure:
The FNNDSC will be closed Monday, September 1st, in accordance with Labor Day, an official hospital holiday (Holiday Schedule)
Upcoming Conferences:
Fetal, Infant, & Toddler Neuroimaging Group (FIT’NG) Annual Conference | September 7-8 | Dublin, Ireland
American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting | October 14-18 | Boston, MA
American Epilepsy Society (AES) Meeting | December 5-9 | Atlanta, GA
Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) | April 24-27 | Boston, MA 2026 MEETING – PAS Meeting
(Abstract deadline: November 3rd, 2025)
Helpful Links:
Research Announcements & News▴ Office of Sponsored Programs Updates▴ Grokker ▴ PeopleSoft/ERP ▴ Flu/COVID Vaccine Central ▴ Ombuds Office ▴ Health Well-Being Programs▴ Onboarding, Setup & Access ▴ eHelp
Help Desk/IT: 617-355-4357, help.desk@childrens.harvard.edu
Newborn Medicine & FNNDSC Fleece Order 2025
We are offering two logo options: Division of Newborn Medicine (4 colors) & FNNDSC (1 color)!
To place your order, as well as find more information on sizing and pricing, please see the below REDCap survey which will be open until Friday, August 29th: https://redcap.tch.harvard.edu/redcap_edc/surveys/?s=LJEMW83WNLJEA838
U.S. Immigration Resources:
Please check the Office of Immigration Services (OIS) page for regular updates and communication: Office of Immigration Services - Welcome!
Studies Recruiting:
The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study at Boston Children’s Hospital (https://hbcdstudy.org/) are in need of parents and their infants to volunteer for an MRI scan (details below) as part of training/piloting.
In addition to the compensation described below, transportation costs are provided as needed. This activity would take place at Boston Children's Hospital at 300 Longwood Ave.
"Infant MRI Scan (30-minutes- 1 hour)"
A scan using magnetic resonance imaging to assist in developing a protocol for future infant scans. The scan would occur when the baby is naturally asleep under the supervision of trained scan technicians and researchers.
-Compensation: $160, a picture of your infant's brain, small gifts for baby + parent
HBCD is also in need of parents and their infants to volunteer in two play-based neurodevelopmental tasks with their 9- to 15-month-old infants/toddlers (details below) as part of training/piloting.
In addition to the compensation described below, transportation costs and childcare for siblings are provided as needed. These activities take place at 2 Brookline Place.
Please contact the HBCD Study (hbcd@childrens.harvard.edu) with any questions or interest in participating.
Bayley Assessment of Infant and Toddler Development (up to 2 hrs)
A play-based activity that assesses various domains of children's development, including motor, visual, and language abilities
Compensation: $50 + diapers, an Uber meal voucher, and small gifts for parent and infant
NIH Baby Tool Box (45 minutes)
This activity primarily uses an iPad, along with some play-based tasks, to assess cognition, executive functioning, language, numeracy/early mathematics, self-regulation, social functioning, and motor skills.
-Compensation: $20 + diapers, an Uber meal voucher, and small gifts for parent and infant
Recent Publications and Presentations from our Team:
Suresh A, Morton SU, Quiat D, DePalma SR, Gorham JM, Brueckner M, Tristani-Firouzi M, Gelb BD, Seidman JG, Seidman CE; Pediatric Cardiac Genomics Consortium. Enrichment of tandem repeat element variants near CHD genes identified by short- and long-read genome sequencing. BMC Med Genomics. 2025 Jul 25;18(1):120. doi: 10.1186/s12920-025-02191-8. PMID: 40713712; PMCID: PMC12291376.
Hostalet N, Salgado-Pineda P, Alemán-Gómez Y, Cobos-Aumatell L, Sotero-Moreno A, París-Gómez I, Aquino-Servín A, Canales-Rodríguez EJ, Guerrero-Pedraza A, Sarró S, Ortiz-Gil J, Im K, Martínez-Abadías N, Pomarol-Clotet E, Fatjó-Vilas M. Sulcal pits as potential markers of early sex-related human brain differences in healthy adults. Biol Sex Differ. 2025 Jul 22;16(1):55. doi: 10.1186/s13293-025-00733-4. PMID: 40696445; PMCID: PMC12281671.
Gurvitz M, Roseman A, Sahakian L, Calderon J, Chung AW, Duva D, Gagoski B, Hobson C, Kang JW, Kovacs A, Ibeziako P, Rivkin M, Bellinger D, Wypij D, Grant PE, Newburger JW. Design and rationale of "Antecedents and correlates of well-being in young adults with congenital heart disease in the Boston Circulatory Arrest Study (BCAS-adult)". Am Heart J. 2025 Nov;289:127-137. doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2025.05.012. Epub 2025 May 24. PMID: 40419013.
Mukherjee S, Templeton K, Tindimwebwa S, Lin I, Sutin J, Yu M, Peterson M, Truwit C, Schiff SJ, Monga V. GLAPAL-H: Global, Local, And Parts Aware Learner for Hydrocephalus Infection Diagnosis in Low-Field MRI. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2025 Jun 9;PP. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2025.3578541. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40489263.
Watkins WS, Hernandez EJ, Miller TA, Blue NR, Zimmerman RM, Griffiths ER, Frise E, Bernstein D, Boskovski MT, Brueckner M, Chung WK, Gaynor JW, Gelb BD, Goldmuntz E, Gruber PJ, Newburger JW, Roberts AE, Morton SU, Mayer JE Jr, Seidman CE, Seidman JG, Shen Y, Wagner M, Yost HJ, Yandell M, Tristani-Firouzi M. Genome sequencing is critical for forecasting outcomes following congenital cardiac surgery. Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 10;16(1):6365. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61625-0. PMID: 40640177; PMCID: PMC12246213.
Several FNNDSC members attended and presented at the annual meeting of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) in Honolulu, HI in May. Out Center's director Ellen Grant, MD gave an educational talk on “Challenges to Reproducibility in Multi-Site MRI”, Borjan Gagoski, PhD moderated a session on "Open Innovation in MR from Vendor & Academia Perspective", Esra Abaci Turk, PhD gave an educational talk on “MRI of the Placenta” and an oral presentation titled “Spatiotemporal changes in the uterus during non-labor contractions”, Filiz Yetisir, PhD gave an educational talk on “MRI Safety in Pregnancy” and e-poster presentation titled “Incorporating realistic fetal motion into RF safety assessment of fetal MRI” and moderated two sessions on "Promising AI Applications on Body MRI" and "Artifacts & Correction: Motion & Acquisition". Ellen Grant and Borjan Gagoski were also senior or co-authors on 10+ conference presentations. Impressive work team!
Funding Opportunities for Faculty and Fellows:
Patient/Family Stories and Publications Sharing:
The Department of Newborn Medicine wants to stay informed about the exciting and impactful research happening in the FNNDSC. As part of this effort, the team is working to feature patient stories and publications that highlight both research and its clinical impact.
Here’s an example of a recent feature on Dr. Stella Kourembanas’ research: Stella’s research.
If you have a project or publication that you feel would be a good fit for this effort, please fill out the form below or reach out to caroline.schutz@childrens.harvard.edu with the details:
FNNDSC Fun!
Congratulations to Banu Ahtam and her family as they welcomed their beautiful baby boy, Leo, on July 19th! 😊
🎧🎵 Enjoy the "Soundtrack of our Center"! 🎹🎤 🎸
We put this playlist together during the June Coffee Social with everyone’s favorite summer tunes:
BCH Events & Involvement:
How to sign up for the Landmark Building Newsletter for updates on ARE events: Request An Account
Want to meet others with shared interests at BCH? Check out:
Boston Events 🎆🎉🪩:
Way to Shine!🌟
Have you seen a teammate or colleague do something exceptional? Have they gone out of their way to exceed someone's expectations? Let them know that you noticed and that you care! To send a Way to Shine, please follow this link: Bravo! Way to Shine - Boston Children's Hospital (harvard.edu)
Brain Games 🧠 📝
HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE?
If you have something that you would like to see featured in the next newsletter, please contact Caroline Schutz caroline.schutz@childrens.harvard.edu.
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