High-risk Neuroblastoma, Sports Injury, School Staff Burnout, Gastrostomy Tube Placement

 

In this week's research news, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia investigators take an in-depth look at the underlying mechanisms of treatment-resistant high-risk neuroblastoma, evaluate the effects of pitching on young arms and elbows, and partner with schools to evaluate an intervention that could help alleviate work-related stress and burnout. Also highlighted is an award-winning presentation that describes a novel method for gastrostomy tube placement in children.

Scientists Map a Path to Novel Insights in Neuroblastoma

CHOP researchers used advanced single cell sequencing and spatial omics techniques to develop a longitudinal single-cell atlas of high-risk neuroblastoma. The findings published in Nature Genetics are the first to give an in-depth analysis of the microenvironment of neuroblastoma and its response to chemotherapy.

"Our atlas provides a crucial foundation for developing novel treatments by mapping the complex interactions between malignant cells and surrounding cells that support tumor growth," said senior study author Kai Tan, PhD, Director of the Center for Single Cell Biology, and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Tan also leads CHOP's participation in the National Cancer Institute Human Tumor Atlas Network.

In addition to new knowledge about the effect of chemotherapy on tumor and non-tumor cell characteristics, researchers discovered a specific communication pathway (HB-EGF/ERBB4) between macrophages and cancer cells that triggered signals promoting tumor growth.

"As researchers, we look to use these insights to tailor therapies to target unique characteristics of a patient's tumor," Dr. Tan said. "Overall, we are optimistic about the doors our research and techniques are opening."

Learn more in this CHOP news release.

Wearable Device Accurately Detects Biomechanical Workload in Young Pitchers

CHOP researchers demonstrated that a single-sensor device worn on the wrist was highly accurate in detecting pitching events, predicting ball velocity, estimating arm slot angle, and elbow torque for youth baseball pitchers.

"The ability to accurately monitor biomechanical workload could have implications for overuse injury prevention, more effective post-injury rehabilitation, and a better understanding of biomechanical workload in everyday movements outside of baseball," said first study author Elliot Greenberg, PT, DPT, PhD, Research Scientist and Physical Therapist in the Orthopedic Center at CHOP, who specializes in caring for young athletes.

Ten healthy, male, right-handed, baseball pitchers between the ages of 10 and 14 were fitted with an experimental system consisting of a single sensor that was affixed to the player's throwing arm at the wrist. They also wore infrared reflective markers for high-speed camera 3-dimensional (3-D) motion capture that tracked their limbs, torso, and head. Of the 250 collected movements of pitches and bat swings, 92% had valid sensor data and 3-D motion capture data.

The study authors suggest future validation studies include a greater variety of skill levels, female athletes, left-handed players, a more diverse age range, and a larger array of discriminatory movements. Sports Health published the findings.

Academic-Community Partnership Aims to Ease Burnout for Under-resourced School Staff

Hillary Kapa, MPH

Researchers in the Center for Violence Prevention (CVP) at CHOP partnered with two under-resourced K-8 schools in West Philadelphia to pilot a 12-session intervention called the Stress-Less Initiative (SLI) to promote educator and after-school staff resilience at the personal, team, and organizational levels.

The preliminary results showed that the SLI has the potential to foster positive outcomes for individual school staff well-being, team cohesion, and school culture. Insights revealed that participants found SLI timely, meaningful, and highly relevant to both their professional and personal lives. The findings were published in Psychology in the Schools.

"The pilot contributes to a growing understanding of how workplace-based support systems can be adapted to educational systems," said first author Hillary Kapa, MPH, Clinical Research Associate in the CVP. "Internally facilitated programs like SLI may offer a promising path towards a more supportive and resilient culture that is led from within."

Read more in this CHOP news release.

Society of Pediatric Radiology Invites CHOP Research Scholar to Present Award-winning Talk

The Society of Pediatric Radiology (SPR) invited Sean Schoeman, MBChB, Radiology Research Scholar at CHOP, to present his team's experience from their device trial of a pediatric ultrasound gastrostomy solution for bedside feeding tube placement at the 2025 SPR Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.

His talk, "First-in-children Experience with a Novel Pediatric Ultrasound Guided Gastrostomy Method Using the PUMA-G Pediatric System," revealed preliminary data that highlighted the device safety and reductions in the amount of fluoroscopy required.

CHOP served as a clinical site for the preliminary device trial, led by Anne Marie Cahill, MBBch, BAO, Chief of the Division of Interventional Radiology, and Abhay Srinivasan, MD, Radiologist. Dr. Cahill collaborated with industry partner CoapTech to design and develop the pediatric application of the system to enable safe, ultrasound-guided gastrostomy tube placement for pediatric patients.

Dr. Schoeman first delivered the award-winning presentation in October 2024 at the 12th International Society for Pediatric Interventional Radiology Meeting, where the CHOP team was honored with the Pioneers Award for Best Scientific Paper, given to only one presentation annually.

Watch the presentation from the 2024 SPIR Annual Meeting to learn more.

1907 Trailblazer Award to Fund Microglia Replacement Research

Frederick C. Bennett, MD, research faculty member in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, received the 1907 Trailblazer Award, given to research scientists who are innovators in the field of mental health. The two-year grant supports his project, "Cracking the code of therapeutic microglia engineering."

Dr. Bennett's Lab is investigating in preclinical models how to specifically and safely remove microglia cells from the brain, and then intravenously transplant therapeutically engineered cells to take their place.

"These cells completely fill and become a part of your brain, but can be programmed to prevent brain disease, acting as living drugs that persist for long periods," said Dr. Bennett, an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and Neurology at CHOP. "This project focuses on figuring out the best strategies to engineer therapeutic immune cells to prevent and cure neurodegenerative and psychiatric illnesses."

The 1907 Foundation funds emerging scientists who seek to understand neural circuits and biology that govern psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. The Foundation works to solve psychiatric and neurodegenerative health by understanding the human brain.

"Though microglia replacement may provide cures, the necessary foundational studies supported by the 1907 Foundation could not be performed using traditional funding mechanisms," Dr. Bennett said. "And the CHOP research ecosystem is an ideal place in which to pursue these goals."

ICYMI

Catch up on our headlines from our April 4 In The News:

• Nurse Scientist Receives Prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award
• AIMBE Inducts Yi Xing, PhD, to 2025 Class of College of Fellows
• Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells Alter Immune Memory of Healthy Cells
• Researchers Emphasize Importance of Severe Acute Malnutrition in TB Screenings
• CHOP Researchers Receive Smoking Treatment Accreditation Recognition

Keep up with our news, stories, and updates in real time by following us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Bluesky. Meet the minds behind the science in the Bench to Bedside podcast. Or subscribe to our newsletter to receive an email every other Friday.