Laboratory Information:
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Bldg 31, Room 2A32, MSC 2425
31 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892-2425
Website: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/
Technology Transfer Website: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/funding/
Agency/Department: Dept. of Health and Human Services
Region: Mid-Atlantic
FLC Laboratory Representative:
Dr. Charlotte McGuinness
Phone: 301-435-3130
Fax: 301-402-2117
Email: mcguinnc@mail.nih.gov
Background/History of the Laboratory:
The National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development (NICHD) was initially established to investigate the
broad aspects of human development as a means of understanding developmental disabilities, including
mental
retardation, and the events that occur during pregnancy. Today, the Institute conducts and supports
research on
all stages of human development, from preconception to adulthood, to better understand the health of
children,
adults, families, and communities.
Mission of the Laboratory:
The mission of the NICHD is to ensure that
every person is born healthy and wanted, that women suffer no
harmful effects from reproductive processes, and that all children have the chance to achieve their
full potential
for healthy and productive lives, free from disease or disability, and to ensure the health, productivity,
independence, and well-being of all people through optimal rehabilitation. The NICHD has made revolutionary
progress toward achieving its goals. Since the Institute was founded: infant death rates in the United
States
have dropped more than 70 percent, with much of this decline resulting from NICHD-sponsored research;
survival rates for respiratory distress syndrome have gone from 5 percent in the 1960s, to 95 percent
today, due
to advances in respirator technologies and the availability of replacement lung surfactant, resulting
from the
research efforts of the NICHD and other Institutes; the rate of sudden infant death syndrome has dropped
more
than 50 percent, since the NICHD-led Back to Sleep education campaign to reduce the risk of SIDS began;
transmission of HIV from infected mother to fetus and infant has dropped from 25 percent to less than
2
percent, as a result of NICHD's efforts in collaboration with other agencies and organizations; the
incidence of
Haemophilus Influenzae B (Hib), once the leading cause of acquired mental retardation, has dropped more
than 99 percent, because of development of the Hib vaccine by NICHD scientists, which has nearly eliminated
this disease; congenital hypothyroidism, once responsible for many cases of mental retardation, no longer
has
an impact on cognitive development because of screening techniques used to detect the condition in all
newborns in time to allow treatment to prevent its effects; Phenylketonuria, a disorder that also caused
mental
retardation in many individuals, has been successfully eliminated as a factor in cognitive development
through
newborn screening and dietary therapy; infertility that at one time kept couples from having babies
of their own
often can be treated and reversed; sound scientific information about the safety and effectiveness of
different
contraceptive methods for women and men is now available; many social, physical, and behavioral
rehabilitation treatments for people with mental, developmental, and physical disabilities are now available.
Technology Transfer Mechanisms:
- Fellowships
- Contracts
- Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs)
- Grants
- Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)
Technology Areas of Expertise:
- Stillbirth
- Stillborn Infant
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
- Teen Health
- Urinary Incontinence
- Urinary Tract Infections (UTI)
- Uterine Fibroids
- UTI (Urinary Tract Infections)
- Vaginitis
- Vulvodynia
- XXY condition
- Endometriosis
- Tummy Time
- Turner Syndrome
- Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT)
- Fertility/Infertility
- Fragile X Syndrome
- Gestational Diabetes Mellitus
- Hormone Replacement Therapy
- Child Development
- Child Growth
- Clinical Trials
- Contraception
- Cushing's Syndrome
- Developmental Disabilities
- Milk and Bone Health
- Milk Matters Campaign
- Miscarriage
- National Children's Study
- National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
- National Reading Panel
- Neural Tube Defects
- NTDs (Neural Tube Defects)
- Oral Health and Calcium
- Osteoporosis
- PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome)
- Pelvic Floor Disorders
- Pelvic Pain
- Phenylketonuria (PKU)
- Pituitary Tumors in Children
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
- Prader-Willi Syndrome
- Precocious Puberty
- Preconception Care
- Preeclampsia and Eclampsia
- Pregnancy
- Pregnancy Loss
- Premature Labor and Birth
- Premature Ovarian Failure
- Prenatal Care
- Preterm Labor and Birth
- Primary Immunodeficiency
- Primary Ovarian Insufficiency
- Puberty
- Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD)
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)
