Updates

Research Research Centers

Feigin Tower

Texas Children's Feigin Tower is a hub for pediatric research. The facility provides researchers space to conduct research in areas of fundamental importance in microbiology, immunology, cell biology, genetics and the biology of infection and inflammation. Researchers at the Feigin Center are making landmark discoveries and fundamental contributions to the fields of pediatric cancer, women's health, disorders of the blood, gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidney, bones as well as psychological conditions. In addition, researchers at the Feigin Center are world-class experts in developing effective and safe vaccines for various emerging infectious diseases and cancers. 


The Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI)
 

The Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital (NRI) is the basic science research institute dedicated to improving the lives of patients facing devastating neurological disorders. NRI is committed to understanding the pathogenesis of neurological, neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases with the ultimate goal of developing effective and safe treatments.

Collaboration and leadership in genetics and neuroscience have allowed faculty at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital to discover the underlying causes of dozens of neurological disorders. It is the world’s first basic science research institute dedicated to childhood neurological diseases, with the goal of accelerating the pace of discoveries related to brain development and function. In its first five years, the NRI has demonstrated its ability to fulfill that mission with accomplishments that include significant research breakthroughs, grants and faculty awards. 

Dr. Huda Y. Zoghbi, director of the NRI, professor of neurology, neuroscience, pediatrics, and molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, credits the institute’s progress to its multi-disciplinary research team, its collaborative approach and a strong infrastructure of core facilities. Dr. John Swann, the co-director of NRI, also heads the Gordon and Mary Cain Pediatric Neurology Research Foundation Laboratories dedicated to basic research in childhood epilepsies. 

The NRI has about 30 principal investigators and over 150 researchers who study varied disciplines such as genetics, neurobiology, physics, mathematics, bioinformatics and behavioral psychology. NRI investigators work across a spectrum of diseases including autism, epilepsy, Rett syndrome, cerebral palsy, ataxias, intellectual disabilities and Batten disease. Such studies also impact many adult disorders that share similar symptoms.

Jan and Dan Duncan NRI is designed to foster a multidisciplinary, collaborative environment that will facilitate fundamental discoveries in neuroscience with the ultimate goal of translating them to therapies for many incurable neurological and neurodegenerative conditions


Children’s Nutrition Research Center

The Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC) is a unique cooperative venture between Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine and the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service. As the first federal nutrition research center to investigate the nutritional needs of pregnant and nursing women, and children from conception through adolescence, the Children's Nutrition Research Center conducts research that helps improve the maternal, infant and child nutrition guidelines used by physicians, parents and others responsible for the care and feeding of children. 

The ​Children’s Nutrition Research Center (CNRC) is a unique cooperative venture between Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital and the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS). The center has 50 faculty members conducting nutrition-related research and a total staff of more than 200. 

The Children’s Nutrition Research Center is the first federal nutrition research center to investigate the nutritional needs of children from conception through adolescence, and that of pregnant women and nursing mothers. It is 1 of 6 U.S. Department of Agriculture human nutrition research centers conducting scientific investigations designed to provide Americans with a clear understanding of the role of nutrition in maintaining a healthy, active life. 

The CNRC research is designed to establish better guidelines that promote health, growth and development through optimal nutrition for use by physicians, parents and others responsible for the care and feeding of children. Improved nutritional standards for children and their mothers will have long-term effects on the population, resulting in better health for generations to come.


The Clinical Research Center

The Clinical Research Center (CRC) provides a clinical research infrastructure for investigators who want to conduct patient-oriented clinical research at Texas Children’s Hospital. The CRC conducts innovative research studies that cut across all disciplines. Many of the studies evaluate the effects of new therapies in children and are intensive in terms of obtaining blood and other biologic samples to learn as much as possible about these therapies.


William T. Shearer Center for Human Immunobiology

The state-of-the-art research facility, William T. Shearer Center for Human Immunobiology specializes in the discovery of novel therapeutics and insights into the
human immune system. It serves as a central research hub to enable investigation and discoveries that translate into high-impact biology and novel approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of multiple pediatric diseases.

The Center’s mission is to improve the quality of life and outcomes for patients with immune disorders through cutting-edge multidisciplinary research. Its major advantage is the essential synergy emerging from world-class multidisciplinary teams where immunobiology transcends diverse specialties, including immunology, allergy and retrovirology, rheumatology, endocrinology, global immigrant health, tropical medicine, hematology, oncology, infectious diseases and gastroenterology.