Patient Stories
Nick: Overcoming his fears to make a difference for others
People decide to participate in a clinical trial for lots of reasons. For 14-year-old Nick Brown, it came down to wanting to make a difference in the world. Diagnosed with autism at age 5, Nick has had a lifelong aversion to hospitals, and especially to needles. Yet, when his parents told him about a new ... Read More about Nick: Overcoming his fears to make a difference for others
Research
How scratching may prime children with eczema for food allergy and anaphylaxis
Eczema, a chronic itchy inflammatory skin disease, affects about 15 percent of U.S. children. It’s a strong risk factor for food allergies — more than half of children with eczema are allergic to one or more foods — and most people with food allergy have eczema. But the connection between the two hasn’t been clear. New ... Read More about How scratching may prime children with eczema for food allergy and anaphylaxis
Our Community
Collaboration for Community Health helps families thrive
Justin’s mom grabs him a fast food dinner because the nearest supermarket is two bus rides away. Mia is afraid to play outside because there was a recent shooting in her neighborhood. Janelle’s parents have trouble covering all their expenses each month and are worried the family will be evicted from their apartment. These scenarios ... Read More about Collaboration for Community Health helps families thrive
Our Community
We are Boston Children’s: Meet Isis and Emily
While interviewing patients for the Pediatric Transplant Center, writer Emily Williams was struck by the long journeys that transplant patients face while waiting for an organ donation match. She decided to do something that no employee had ever done — donate her kidney to a Boston Children’s patient. Watch how Emily and her donor recipient, ... Read More about We are Boston Children’s: Meet Isis and Emily
Patient Stories
Worth the fight: Finding care for short bowel syndrome
When Hannah Lillie meets someone new, she’s likely to smile and blow them a big kiss. The friendly, wide-eyed toddler loves being the center of attention — but when she was just 3 weeks old, she and her parents, Layne and Ryan, found themselves in the middle of a medical whirlwind they could never have ... Read More about Worth the fight: Finding care for short bowel syndrome
Research
New technique images whole brains with incredible resolution
Decades ago, discoveries about the brain’s intricate anatomy were made with careful dissection and drawings. Today, they’re made with super-resolution imaging and massive computing power capable of handling hundreds of terabytes of data. In this week’s Science, a team out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical ... Read More about New technique images whole brains with incredible resolution
Our Community
Martha Eliot Health Center: Teaching youth to be community leaders
When the students of the Mildred C. Hailey Youth Community Leadership Institute at Martha Eliot Health Center learned they were going to be painting a mural, they were initially intimidated. “Some were thinking ‘I can’t draw!’ or ‘I don’t know if I can do this,” says Alysha Noel, community resource coordinator at Martha Eliot and co-facilitator of ... Read More about Martha Eliot Health Center: Teaching youth to be community leaders
Patient Stories
Gracie’s complex spine
Halloween 2018 was no ordinary ghouls’ day for Gracie Neef. She and both her parents dressed up as the witches from “Hocus Pocus.” To Gracie’s delight, her father’s costume included a long, blonde wig. Even more unusual, Gracie was an inpatient at Boston Children’s Hospital. “The fact that Gracie was going to spend Halloween in ... Read More about Gracie’s complex spine
Research
‘Nanobodies’ from alpacas could help bring CAR T-cell therapy to solid tumors
In 1989, two undergraduate students at the Free University of Brussels were asked to test frozen blood serum from camels, and stumbled on a previously unknown kind of antibody. It was a miniaturized version of a human antibody, made up only of two heavy protein chains, rather than two light and two heavy chains. As ... Read More about ‘Nanobodies’ from alpacas could help bring CAR T-cell therapy to solid tumors
Research
Small samples, big data: A systems-biology look at a newborn’s first week of life
The first week of a baby’s life is a time of rapid biological change. The newborn must adapt to living outside the womb, suddenly exposed to new bacteria and viruses. Yet scientists know surprisingly little about these early changes. Reporting in Nature Communications, an international research team provides the most detailed accounting to date of the ... Read More about Small samples, big data: A systems-biology look at a newborn’s first week of life