UVA Health participating in international study of children’s gut development

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - UVA Health, along with an international team of researchers, is receiving a $3 million grant to study children’s guts. This research is aimed to improve children’s health and understand its development.

“The gut is really critical to all parts of early development,” Associate Professor Sana Syed with UVA Pediatric Gastroenterology said.

She says very little is known about the changes in children’s guts at a molecular level.

“There really isn’t anything published in children between the ages of 0 to 5,” Syed said. “There’s nothing. There’s a big sort of a black hole there. So we wanted to focus there.”

Syed says there is an emphasis on diversity in both the leadership and participants in the study.

“So for Virginia, about 85% of the children who come to our clinical practice are from rural zip code, so we’ll be providing the rural diversity. Boston is very much an urban town, so that’s what their piece will be. Mississippi will be helping increase diversity in terms of patients with African ancestry, and Pakistan for the global health piece,” Syed said.

The findings could help doctors individualize treatments.

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