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Research Institute

Advancing the Future of Pediatric Care

Donor support powers the groundbreaking discoveries and innovations happening at the Connecticut Children’s Research Institute (CCRI). By investing in pioneering pediatric research, donors help accelerate life-changing treatments, advance cures and create brighter, healthier futures for children and families.

Doctor Rowe in the research lab

We’re Shaping the Future of Children’s Health

Our Research Institute combines our unique expertise across five Scientific Centers featuring physician scientists who collaborate with premier research partners in our region such as UConn Health and The Jackson Laboratory, as well as clinical investigators and other scholars from around the world. 

Group of researchers in the lab

Our Five Scientific Centers

Through community-driven research and strategic partnerships, we are working to improve health outcomes for children everywhere. By advancing studies focused on childhood mental health, chronic pain and the unique needs of underserved youth, we are helping expand access to care, strengthen support systems and create healthier futures for children and families locally and nationwide.

Our researchers are pioneering regenerative medicine breakthroughs that have the potential to transform care for children before birth and throughout childhood. From stem cell therapies and tissue engineering to 3D bioprinting and fetal interventions, these innovations are advancing treatments for complex pediatric conditions and creating healthier futures for children facing some of the most serious medical challenges.

Our physician-scientists are leading innovative research to better understand infectious and inflammatory diseases that impact children and young adults. Through groundbreaking studies on the gut microbiome, vaccine development and complex conditions such as IBD, NEC, RSV, Lyme disease and COVID-19, this work is driving earlier diagnoses, improved treatments and stronger prevention strategies to help children live healthier lives.

Our researchers are advancing personalized medicine to improve outcomes for children and young adults facing cancer. By studying genetic changes, identifying targeted therapies and expanding access to the latest clinical innovations, this work is helping create more effective treatments, improve quality of life and bring new hope to children and families navigating a cancer diagnosis.

Our researchers are expanding the understanding of rare pediatric diseases to help unlock new possibilities for treatment and care. Through advances in gene therapy and bone biology research, studies focused on conditions such as rare bone disorders, spinal muscular atrophy and glycogen storage disease are bringing hope to children and families facing some of the most complex and least understood diagnoses.

Emily Germain-Lee in her lab at UConn for the Research Institute
Researcher working in the lab

Donor Spotlight

 

Our physician-scientists rely on philanthropy to acquire vital tools that power their research and move new discoveries forward.

3D Bioprinter

Printing Hope in the Lab

Connecticut Children’s Surgeon-in-Chief and UConn School of Medicine Vice Chair of Surgery Christine Finck, MD, leads a team of researchers who are working with 3D bioprinters—generously funded by donor Glen Greenberg. These printers, however, don’t simply extrude layers of plastic strands to build an object. Rather, they are capable of constructing tissue-like structures using bioinks and stem cells. While current research studies remain in preclinical stages with animal models, the future implications for human patients could transform medicine.

Researcher Spotlight

Courtney Rowe, MD

Dr. Rowe studies how children heal after reconstructive surgery, identifies gaps in surgical outcomes, and designs innovative solutions to improve recovery. From developing new techniques to prevent pain after surgery to exploring regenerative approaches that enhance healing, her work focuses on making surgery safer, recovery smoother, and long-term outcomes stronger.

“My passion is bringing new technologies and cutting-edge findings out of the laboratory and into the clinical world where they can improve the lives of the kids I see every day,” says Dr. Rowe. 

Dr. Rowe in the research lab conducting research using the 3D Bioprinter

Joanna Gell, MD

Dr. Gell's research focuses on understanding and treating germ cell tumors (GCTs)—a rare pediatric cancer that can occur in the gonads and other parts of the body, including the brain. Her laboratory uses advanced in-vitro stem cell models to uncover how alterations in germ cell development lead to malignancy and to identify novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets. She also investigates non-invasive biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid that could improve early diagnosis and reduce the need for invasive procedures.

Doctor Gell taking vitals on a patient

Interested in Advancing the Future of Pediatric Research?

Join a community of emerging leaders, advocates, and changemakers committed to advancing the future of children’s health.

Research Stories

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