Jennifer Hendrick, MD
Jennifer Hendrick, MD, a research assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, was awarded a new five-year K23 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to study diarrheal disease. K Awards are an essential source of funding that support faculty in developing their research careers and act as a springboard for securing future grant opportunities.
Diarrheal disease is a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide. Through large multi-country observational cohort studies, Adenovirus serotypes 40 and 41 have been determined as a major cause of diarrheal illness in children under the age of 5. There are currently no preventatives for this infection. This work therefore looks to examine the immune response to infection as an initial step to vaccine or monoclonal antibody development.
As there is little known about the natural antibody response to infection, this study will utilize an array containing all structural proteins from adenovirus 40 and 41 to create a comprehensive picture of child serum antibody responses to viral antigens. This will be done utilizing well-characterized Bangladeshi birth cohorts that are surveilled closely for infectious diarrhea, through testing for multiple pathogens, including adenovirus 40 and 41. Infant antibody responses at multiple time points will be used to determine antibody reactivity to this infection throughout the first few years of life and their association with adenovirus 40/41 reinfection. This will be a first step in determining promising vaccine targets that will elicit protective immune responses in this population.
Filed Under: Research