Center for Fetal Research
The Center for Fetal Research is the research extension of the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Our investigators pursue basic and "translational" research to develop optimal prenatal treatment strategies for a wide variety of genetic and acquired disorders.
We believe that unique therapeutic opportunities occur during fetal life, related to normal developmental events, which favor prenatal over postnatal treatment. These opportunities create a compelling rationale for the prenatal treatment of many fetal, pediatric and even adult disorders, with potentially less morbidity and mortality than that associated with currently available postnatal treatments. The investigative interests of our group are broad and include not only disorders directly affecting the fetus, but also many disorders that are first manifest in the child or adult.
The untapped potential of fetal treatment
The early gestational fetal environment is a therapeutic milieu that is rarely considered. However, its potential is staggering when considered from the perspective of converging technologies in modern medicine. The combination of advances in maternal screening for fetal disease, fetal imaging, progress with molecular diagnosis of genetic abnormalities, gene chip technology, and the mapping and deciphering of the human genome, make it highly likely that within the next decade, nearly all human anatomic and genetic disease will be diagnosed early in gestation.
The early gestational diagnosis of a disease will create management options of termination, treatment in utero, or treatment after birth. Therefore if significant advantages for fetal treatment over postnatal treatment exist, many families that choose to continue the pregnancy will be candidates for consideration of prenatal therapy.
Advantages of fetal treatment
A variety of biological opportunities are present in the fetus that favor fetal over adult treatment.
Developmental plasticity
The fetus has considerably more plasticity at both the tissue and cellular levels than the adult. This may allow restoration of organ development and function after correction of an anatomic anomaly, or the restoration or genetic correction of a stem cell compartment that may not be possible later in life.
Immune tolerance
The early gestational fetus is immunologically immature and can be "tolerized" to cells, organs, or proteins that are immunologically foreign, avoiding the potential for rejection and the need for immunosuppression.
Stem cell biology
Stem cells exist at higher frequency, are more proliferative, and have higher accessibility in the early gestational fetus than in postnatal life. In addition, it is the only time in life that stem cell compartments are being formed to develop into tissues.
Fetal size
The small size of the fetus, and the small cell number allow relatively large doses of donor cells or vector to be administered.
Our research interests
Currently, our investigative efforts focus on the following areas of interest:
- In utero stem cell transplantation
- In utero gene therapy
- Prenatal and perinatal treatment of congenital diaphragmatic hernia
- Fetal and adult wound healing and regeneration
- Pathogenesis and treatment of myelomeningocele
- Pathogenesis and treatment of gastroschisis
Our investigators
Alan W. Flake, MD, FACS, FAAP, director
N. Scott Adzick, MD, MMM, FAAP, FACS
Tim Brazelton, MD, PhD
Marcus Davey, PhD
Holly L. Hedrick, MD, FAAP, FACS
William H. Peranteau, MD
Training opportunities for healthcare professionals
Learn about our fetal diagnosis and therapy fellowship
Fetal therapy research resources
North American Fetal Therapy Network (NAFTNet)
NAFTNet is a voluntary association of institutions in the U.S. and Canada with expertise in fetal surgery and therapy. It fosters collaborative research to advance the field of fetal medicine. Members can use the site to access current research protocols and participate in research studies.
http://www.naftnet.org/
Contact us
For more information about The Center for Fetal Research, its studies and its training opportunities, please contact Alan Flake, MD, FACS, FAAP at flake@email.chop.edu.
Contact Us
- 1-800-468-8376
- (1-800-IN-UTERO)
- Contact Us Online
