Exploring ways to help children with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and autism is the focus of a new partnership between the University of Texas at Arlington and Cook Children’s Health Care System.
Officials announced earlier this month the creation of the UTA Pediatric Brain Health and Neurosciences Center, which is spearheaded by Christos Papadelis, assistant vice president of neuroscience research at Cook Children’s and a professor of bioengineering. The partnership will allow the medical system to implement the latest academic research breakthroughs, officials said.
“The goal here is to train young scientists — Ph.D. students and postdocs — and make use of the new MRI scanner that UTA purchased last year in order to study healthy kids and kids with neurological disorders,” Papadelis said.
Children with epilepsy, for example, is an important indicator for pediatric brain health. Despite growing success with medicating those with epilepsy, 30% of children with the condition are unable to control the seizures with drugs, Papadelis said.
These children need brain resection surgeries to treat the seizures, Papadelis added. His research aims to develop biomarkers — indicators of biological processes in the body — that inform surgeries by comparing the brains of those with epilepsy against those without.
Papadelis’ research is one of a few projects that will benefit from the partnership. Cook Children’s treats kids with a wide array of brain disorders while UTA has researchers exploring those spaces, he noted.
By bridging the gap between testing and care, research can have a more direct impact.
“What is very satisfactory for us is we see our research activities have benefits for the kids who suffer from all these disorders very soon,” Papadelis said. “The reasons we are doing this work is (to have) a significant impact to the children and to society.”
For example, Papadelis’ team is developing robotics to help with upper-body extremity functions for children with cerebral palsy.
His team’s research is also looking to understand emotional processing for children with autism.
The partnership bridges operational gaps existing within both institutions. Cook Children’s Medical Center is the 10th-largest pediatric health hospital nationwide based on the number of beds, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. But the hospital is a nonacademic medical center.
And despite making great strides in its Joint Admission Medical Program and nursing school, UTA is not a medical school.
This partnership brings the best from both worlds in a way that can directly help patients, said Jon Weidanz, associate vice president for research at the university.
“We’re in a very unique position where we’re now realizing that the different tools and technologies that we have at UTA can be pointed toward solving very challenging, difficult childhood diseases and morbidities,” Weidanz said.
Ismael M. Belkoura is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
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