Lab Life Video Series: Timko Research Group

0:00

Emily Ferrer, BA, Clinical Research Assistant:
I think the biggest thing that really shows that we've succeeded is when our kids get better.

0:07
We have a treatment study that we are just wrapping up and it is so amazing to see kids start from square one where like they're really sick and they're not doing well, and then to see them six months later so much better. That is definitely success.

0:48

Alix Timko, PhD:
So, my name is Doctor Alix Timko.

0:50
I'm a clinical psychologist. I am the director of Psychiatric and Behavioral Health research in the Eating Disorder Assessment and Treatment Program here in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Science.

1:08
Our research is really focused on adolescents with eating disorders.

1:12
One is really understanding and trying to develop better treatments so that we can get more adolescents to remission.

1:20
In order to do that, we have to understand the maintenance of eating disorders, what kind of keeps them going once they start.

1:27
We're also looking at the microbiome, so trying to understand what happens to all of the little microorganisms and bacteria in our gut during an eating disorder and once adolescents hit remission.

1:42
And then we're also looking at a number of other things going on in the brain, changes in reward, changes in social interactions and social processes, and seeing if any of those things could potentially predict whether or not certain treatments work and if we can develop new treatments to target any of those things.

2:00

Pascal Beckert-McGirr, BA, Clinical Research Assistant:
I really love to work with the research families here.

2:02
Sometimes they come in person, sometimes I work with them online over Teams, but it's just like really rewarding to get to work with the families, especially over the course of time.

2:14
So the study that I, I work on primarily takes place over the course of six months.

2:18
And so we get to work with kids who are at the beginning of treatment, and we get to see them sort of go through the treatment process and, and meet with them once they tend to be sort of a little bit more recovered.

2:29
And that is really a great sort of experience to be able to work with them throughout those six months.

2:37

Dr. Timko:
The other thing that we have them do sometimes, which is a little bit more unusual is our adolescents who are participating in our clinical trial are asked to eat lunch here. And so, we have a fairly large buffet that we developed in collaboration with our teen dietitian and a number of teenagers.

2:55
And it has a variety of foods on it, ones that would be considered sort of safe foods for an individual with an eating disorder and others that are considered scarier foods.

3:04
And then we have them sit in the room alone for half an hour.

3:07
They have to serve themselves a meal and eat the meal.

3:10
And we're able to observe things like how quickly do they approach the buffet table?

3:15
What types of foods do they take?

3:17
What is the macro nutrient content of the food?

3:20
How quickly do they eat?

3:21
Are they able to eat everything?

3:23
And we're able to track over time how flexible they become in the types of foods that they choose and how they eat the food.

3:31
And so we have this more real-world test of flexibility in the buffet.

3:55

Emily Ferrer, BA, Clinical Research Assistant:
So I think what makes it unique is that we are a super innovative lab.

4:00
So we are doing things that are new and that really haven't been done before.

4:05
So like new treatments and just new ideas, new research.

4:10

Moniher Deb, BA, Clinical Research Assistant:
I would say that our team is very invested.

4:13
We're invested in learning, we're invested in growth as a professional, as well as spreading research across the general population.

4:21

Dr. Timko:
Philadelphia actually has one of the largest pediatric eating disorder programs in the country.

4:28
And all eating disorders have the potential for fairly serious medical complications.

4:33
And so when you do this work, you need to work as part of a team and you need to have medical colleagues, you need to have dietitian colleagues, and that is really hard to do in sort of your classic university setting.

4:49
So for the kind of work that I do, I really need to be in an academic Medical Center. I need to be at a hospital.

4:55
And like I said, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has one of the largest programs in the country, certainly one of the largest ones on the East Coast.

5:03
And we have an amazing team, not only the research team, but the clinical team.

5:07
And so being here with a robust program that really is focused on doing everything we can to get kids better? What better place to do this research?