The Congenital and Perinatal Infections Consortium (CPIC) has awarded the third CPIC Pilot Project to Carol Kao, MD. Dr. Kao is an assistant professor of infectious diseases at Washington University in St. Louis.
Dr. Kao will work under the mentorship of Stephanie Fritz, MD, and Juliane Bubeck-Wardenburg, MD, PhD, on her project “Staphylococcus aureus α-toxin antibody response in maternal-infant dyads.” Dr. Kao's CPIC funding will allow her to enroll pregnant women in their third trimester and follow infants until 12 months of life. By collecting cord blood, serial culture swabs, and parental data, this study will provide novel insight into the role maternal antibodies play in the development of postnatal S. aureus immunity.
Given the significant healthcare burden of S. aureus infections and the continued trend for increasing antibiotic resistance, findings from this study will inform the development and utilization of novel anti-S. aureus therapeutics to prevent infant and childhood infections.
We wish Dr. Kao success as her research progresses!
Learn more about the CPIC Pilot Program.
The Congenital and Perinatal Infections Consortium (CPIC) is part of the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN), which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and led by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) through its Division of Rare Diseases Research Innovation (DRDRI). CPIC is funded under grant number U54AI150225 as a collaboration between NCATS and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
