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This year’s BWH Biomedical Research Institute BRIght Futures Prize finalists are addressing cutting-edge themes in their research. Each of the three finalists hopes to receive the first-ever $100,000 BRIght Futures Prize, which will be awarded on BWH Research Day. Read about their work below, and beginning Sept. 17, vote for your choice here.
Robert C. Green, MD, MPH, BWH Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine
What is your research project about?
Imagine that immediately after birth, your baby could have a blood test to analyze his or her entire DNA sequence. Your pediatrician would receive a report that explains your baby's genetic risks for developing diseases such as diabetes, heart disease or cancer. Throughout your child's life, health care providers could then integrate this information into a care plan for your child, for example by adjusting your child's diet or offering additional exams to screen for high-risk conditions during childhood or adulthood.
As DNA sequencing becomes more commonplace, it will soon be less expensive and available to anyone. But clinicians and researchers are still trying to understand how to integrate DNA sequencing into patient care. Our research project is about determining effective and responsible ways to use this emerging technology, particularly for newborn babies and their families.
What is the most exciting aspect of your research project?
The most exciting thing about our project is that we will ask new parents if DNA sequencing would be useful for them and why. We will then conduct a pilot project to integrate actual DNA sequence information into the medical care of healthy newborn babies.
We will offer DNA sequencing to the parents of several newborn babies. We will follow the infants, their families and their pediatricians to observe their experiences after receiving their DNA information. For instance, how did the pediatrician interpret the sequencing results? How did he or she communicate the results to the parents? How did parents respond to their baby's sequencing results? We will do this by measuring outcomes such as psychological impact, parental stress, parent-child bonding and downstream health care utilization.
How will your research benefit people?
DNA sequencing itself is filled with controversy. If done well, providing the entire DNA sequence to pediatricians and parents of newborn babies has the potential to save lives by identifying medical risks early. If done poorly, it has the potential to frighten parents and drive up medical costs. We want to find the most effective way to use DNA sequencing information so that it benefits families.
By carefully monitoring medical, psychological and social outcomes, our research will determine the best way to use this emerging technology in the care of newborn babies.
Click here to learn more about the other BRIght Futures Prize finalists >>