The section of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine has a long history of excellence in clinical and basic research. Given that neonatology fellows will invest a certain portion of their training in research, it is important that the experience be enjoyable, focused on an important subject, guided by superb mentors/investigators and of the quality supported by NIH funding. Exposure to excellent clinical or basic research will provide the fellow with skills necessary to evaluate literature and research, as they apply those results to clinical care, teaching and/or investigation. Neonatology fellows routinely present their research at national meetings, and many have won prestigious awards for their work.

Five NIH funded Neonatal faculty utilize genetically engineered mice to investigate the mechanisms of normal blood cell production during embryonic and fetal development and to identify the signaling pathways that cause dysregulated hematopoesis in animal models or the human disorders: Neurofibromatosis, Fanconi Anemia, Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, and Noonan's syndrome. Two NIH funded Neonatal faculty utilize the chronically catheterized fetal sheep model to understand normal and intrauterine restriction of fetal growth and to identify cellular mechanisms leading to normal or altered protein accretion. Two NIH funded Neonatal faculty employ stable isotope tracer methodologies in human newborn infants to analyze glucose and protein utilization during normal and abnormal growth and disease states.

Randomized clinical trials are largely accomplished through multcenter trials, funded by NICHD, designed to evaluate new interventions or treatments in this patient population. Fellows in training and faculty within the Section have actively participated as investigators or principal investigators of trials within the NICHD Neonatal Research Network.

These research efforts are conducted within the research facilities of the Indiana University School of Medicine. The Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research, containing ~28,000 square feet of basic research laboratories, is located within the Riley Hospital for Children and the adjacent Cancer Research Center. In addition, the mass spectrometry core laboratory, occupying 2000 square feet and located within Riley Hospital, is dedicated primarily to metabolic studies of the fetus and newborn. Within the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Riley Hospital is a 600 square foot area dedicated to clinical research for performance of indirect calorimetry, stable isotope infusions, and sample collections. This area is supported by the NIH GCRC Neonatal Scatterbed.