Center to focus on pediatric research

Pittsburgh will soon be home to a pioneering pediatric facility that will focus on research… Pittsburgh will soon be home to a pioneering pediatric facility that will focus on research as well as the administration of pediatric care.

Scientists and doctors at the Richard King Mellon Foundation Institute for Pediatric Research will work to treat illnesses that affect newborns, children and adolescents. Using cellular and molecular biological research, doctors will try to develop cures and treatments for illnesses such as juvenile diabetes, congenital heart disease and childhood cancer.

The foundation recently donated $23 million to begin construction of the facility on a 10-acre plot in Lawrenceville.

UPMC’s Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Pitt’s School of Medicine are leading the research initiative.

“This research often doesn’t get the attention it should. The number of really great scientists that focus on pediatric research is very small,” Dr. David Perlmutter, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Pitt, said.

Perlmutter is hopeful that the institute will attract researchers from around the world. At the institute, researchers will be encouraged to pursue original and high-risk theories.

Perlmutter’s long-term plan is to attract more medical students and scientists to the field of pediatric research.

With federal funds for medical research currently under strain, he is also expectant of future investments.

“Our estimate is that this institute will need additional resources in seven to eight years,” Perlmutter said. “We are focused on making this a smashing success that will attract other foundations to invest.”

Much of the current funds have been allotted for infrastructure. This includes the labs and the necessary care facilities that will be officially open to patients in May 2009. Perlmutter described the institute as a “state of the art core facility” that will include sophisticated imaging, microscopy and cell sorting machines.

The facility will be completed in 2008 and scientists will begin conducting research sometime between October and December of that year.

In addition to giving children more promising futures, the institute will contribute to Pittsburgh’s economy at the present. The Rangos pediatric research center, currently controlled by Children’s Hospital, will be given back to Pitt’s School of Medicine and Perlmutter expects that 60 to 70 new research jobs will be created.

These researchers will not have specific projects to work towards and will instead use their instincts to test ideas that could lead to cures and treatments.

The research center will invite the finest researchers in the country to utilize its resources.

“The point is to give the young investigator the resources to explore. It is not determined by subjects. The principle is people, not projects,” Perlmutter said. “To provide different kinds of resources and the development of careers is what we’d like to see in this institute.”