NIDCR Grantee Receives Funding from the Bill Gates Foundation

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, together with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the NIDCR, has awarded funding to Institute grantee Jeff Murray to conduct cleft lip and cleft palate research in South America. Dr. Murray, professor of pediatric and biological sciences at the University of Iowa and director of NIDCR's Comprehensive Oral Health Research Center of Discovery (COHRCD), is heading one of 10 projects funded through the Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research, a joint initiative by the Gates Foundation and several NIH institutes. Dr. Murray will evaluate the impact of vitamin supplementation and smoking cessation on oral clefts and neural tube defects.

The Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research seeks to improve the health of women and children in developing countries. Initial efforts are focused on safe pregnancy and birth outcomes. An additional goal of the network is to enhance collaborative partnerships between U.S. and foreign investigators and institutions.

Dr. Murray's research will focus on cleft lip and cleft palate, which are common in most South American countries, occurring in 1-2 per 1,000 live births. Although the causes of cleft lip and cleft palate are complex, it is believed that several genes, often working in concert with environmental factors such as maternal nutrition, smoking and alcohol use, give rise to these birth defects. Recent evidence suggests that interventions such as nutritional supplementation with folate or vitamin B6 may decrease the occurrence of clefting. Preventive strategies such as smoking cessation also may help reduce the incidence of these birth defects.

Two interrelated projects will be undertaken. In collaboration with South American researcher Dr. Eduardo E. Castilla, Dr. Murray will examine the impact of cleft lip and cleft palate on maternal, fetal, and neonatal health and work to decrease clefting using both medical and behavioral interventions. The second project will take place at the Centrinho clinic in Bauru, Brazil, a facility that sees a high number of patients with cleft lip and cleft palate. In collaboration with Drs. Antonio Richieri-Costa and Danilo Ferrieti Morriera in Brazil, and Dr. Ron Munger at Utah State University, interventions will be tested to decrease the birth incidence of cleft lip and palate. The projects should strengthen collaborative relationships in the area of craniofacial anomalies between Brazil and the U.S., increase understanding of the effects of birth defects--and craniofacial anomalies in particular--on families, and directly decrease the burden of these defects.

"These projects build on pre-existing collaborations among our groups to study the burden and decrease the incidence of these sentinel birth defects, which are an increasing problem in less developed countries," said Dr. Murray. "The partnership of multiple centers around the world and the generous funding of the Gates Foundation and the NIH make this a unique opportunity."

NIH also issued a new Request for Applications (RFA-HD-01-024) for the Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research, in partnership with the Gates Foundation, on October 10, 2001. The RFA invites applications from U.S. scientists partnered with foreign scientists in Eastern Europe and Africa. Further information about the RFA is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HD-01-024.html. Applications are due March 18.

Cleft lip or palate is the most common craniofacial birth defect. It is attributed to a combination of several different genetic defects, often working in concert with environmental factors such as tobacco and alcohol use and maternal nutrition.