Texas Children's Research Institute Research Centers
Discovery Research Centers
Discovery research is where breakthroughs begin. The Texas Children's Research Institute has five specialized Discovery Research Centers, each pursuing the kind of early-stage discoveries that can revolutionize patient care.
Texas Children's Microbiome Center
A pioneering center studying the human microbiome with an emphasis on developmental aspects during childhood and pregnancy. It includes capabilities for metagenomic sequencing and microbial metabolomics as tools for exploring compositional and functional features of the human microbiome in the intestine and other body sites. New diagnostics and therapeutic strategies are being developed for acute and chronic diseases with microbial components.
Center for Cell and Gene Therapy
This center has a long history of successfully incorporating advances in cellular and gene therapy into clinical trials, with a comprehensive approach that brings together scientists and clinicians to develop treatment strategies for pediatric cancer and other diseases. Over the past 20 years, its GMP facility has manufactured more than 8,000 cellular therapy products, over 70 clinical-grade viral vectors, and numerous cell banks to support more than 100 investigational studies and international clinical protocols. The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy provides essential infrastructure to rapidly translate novel cell and gene therapy protocols from the laboratory to the clinic, ensuring timely implementation of translational projects that advance patient care.
Kinder Children's Cancer Center
A new partnership between Texas Children's and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, this center unites the nation’s top cancer center with the largest pediatric system and cancer program. In addition to expanding access to cancer care, the Kinder Children's Cancer Center will accelerate drug discovery through coordinated research and development programs, speed clinical development for new therapies, and establish a clinical research program with more trials available for children with cancer than any other institution.
Center for Vaccine Development
An internationally recognized Product Development Partnership leading the development and testing of low-cost, safe, and effective vaccines against emerging and neglected tropical diseases. This center is currently advancing innovative vaccines for hookworm anemia and schistosomiasis (in Phase 2 clinical trials) and a Chagas disease and Lyme disease vaccine soon to enter clinical development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, its low-cost Covid-19 vaccine technology reached 100 million people in India (as CORBEVAX) and Indonesia (as INDOVAC), meriting the National Academy of Medicine’s prestigious David and Beatrix Hamburg Award in Clinical Medicine and Biomedical Research.