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FNNDSC Newsletter- January 31st

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Hope your 2025 is off to a good start!

Upcoming events:


February Lecture Series Calendar

Speaker: Lindsey Burghardt, MD, MPH, FAAP

Chief Science Officer at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University 

Date: Wednesday 2/5 10-11 am

Speaker: John Lewis, PhD

Date: Wednesday 2/12 10-11 am

The SickKids Research Institute Toronto, Canada

Speaker: Matthew Rosen, PhD

Associate Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Martinos Center

Date: Wednesday 2/19 10-11 am


February Coffee Social:



FNNDSC Holiday Closures: Monday, February 17th (President’s Day)

 

Upcoming Conferences:

Newborn Brain Conference | February 19-21, 2025 | San Diego, CA https://www.mcascientificevents.eu/inbc/Newborn

 

Helpful Links:

 

Studies Recruiting:



Hi Everyone,


I am a PI of the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study at Boston Children’s Hospital (https://hbcdstudy.org/). We are 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. I am reaching out to see if faculty in the department may be eligible and interested in participating. 

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.


Best,

Dr. Ellen Grant


  1. Bayley Assessment of Infant and Toddler Development (up to 2 hrs)

  2. -A play-based activity that assesses various domains of children's development, including motor, visual, and language abilities

  3. -Compensation: $50 + diapers, an Uber meal voucher, and small gifts for parent and infant

  4. NIH Baby Tool Box (45 minutes)

  5. -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.

  6. -Compensation: $20 + diapers, an Uber meal voucher, and small gifts for parent and infant


Recent Grants Awarded:

Dr. Ellen Grant awarded her R01: “Bringing Coherent Fetal Brain Volumes and Automated Metrics to the Radiology Workflow,” in January 2024.


Dr. Arafat Hussain awarded his fellowship, “Exploring Premature Brain Aging in Adolescents and Young Adults with Congenital Heart Disease: An Explainable AI and Genomic Analysis of MRI Data,” from PCGC in October 2024.


Congratulations Ellen and Arafat!

 

Recent Publications from our Newest Faculty Member:

Dr. Xue-Jun (June) Kong, M.D.

AP Scientist, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School



  1. Wang RK, Kwong K, Liu K, Kong XJ*. New eye tracking metrics system: the value in early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Front Psychiatry. 2024 Dec 11;15:1518180. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1518180. PMID: 39722847; PMCID: PMC11668771.


  1. Sun B, Calvert EI, Ye A, Mao H, Liu K, Wang RK, Wang XY, Wu ZL, Wei Z, Kong XJ*. Interest paradigm for early identification of autism spectrum disorder: an analysis from electroencephalography combined with eye tracking. Front Neurosci. 2024 Nov 27;18:1502045. doi:10.3389/fnins.2024.1502045. PMID: 39664447; PMCID: PMC11631861.


More about Dr. June Kong:

Dr. Xue-Jun (June) Kong is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Attending Physician in Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She founded and directed the Synapse Lab for Autism Research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) prior to joining Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). Over the past decade, Dr. Kong has led an interdisciplinary research team that has completed multiple projects focused on the early diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through biomarker identification, including microbiome profiling, eye tracking, EEG, brain imaging, and autoimmunity markers. She has also successfully conducted several pioneering clinical trials to explore innovative treatments for ASD, such as probiotics, oxytocin, and vagal nerve stimulation. Dr. Kong’s research is particularly centered on understanding the roles of gut-brain axis, oxytocin signaling, and brain connectivity in ASD pathogenesis and phenotypes. Her team aims to identify common hallmarks of ASD and uncover pathways for potential therapeutic interventions. Her work at MGH resulted in six patents and one filed copyright, with three technologies successfully transferred to industry, contributing significantly to autism early diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Kong also established SYNAPSE primary care co-production model and the East Meets West protocol, aimed at improving ASD patient care and advancing patient-oriented clinical research. Dr. Kong has published more than 70 peer reviewed articles, and she is widely recognized as a leading physician-scientist in the field of autism research

 

FNNDSC Fun!


New Additions to Family:

Congratulations to Arafat and his family for welcoming their new baby boy, Zulqarnain Arafat!


Born on 1/23/25
Born on 1/23/25

 

Annual FNNDSC Holiday Yankee Swap:


Everyone got to take home some pretty sweet gifts :)!
Everyone got to take home some pretty sweet gifts :)!

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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