RESEARCH
The Tiny But Mighty Baby Foundation seeks to fund research that is primarily focused on improving the lives of people with growth restriction. We welcome proposals for research in any area of investigation, including public health, clinical, translational, or basic science investigations, quality improvement, and education.
The Tiny But Mighty Baby Foundation is pleased to announce our 2027 grant awardee - Dr. Camille Fung at the University of Utah! Dr. Fung has received the full award amount of $50,000 for her research.
Congratulations to Dr. Fung for submitting an excellent research proposal. The Foundation is glad to partner with Dr. Fung to further our mission - to support research and education to improve the lives of people with intrauterine growth restriction.
Dr. Fung's research proposal is entitled "Postnatal Environmental Enrichment as a Therapy to Mitigate Learning and Memory Impairment in Mouse Offspring Born with Intrauterine Growth Restriction."
Dr. Fung's research is relevant to the public because infants who do not reach their in utero growth potential, termed intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), carries a 5x higher risk for future learning and memory problems. IUGR is commonly caused by mothers having high blood pressure while pregnant and is increasing in prevalence worldwide. At present, we do not know how to mitigate this risk because we do not fully understand the neurobiological basis of disease. We will use a physiologically- and translationally-relevant mouse model to interrogate whether enriching the IUGR offspring’s postnatal environment will mitigate memory problems via improving neuronal developmental defects in the brain memory center. If successful, we will have a non-invasive, pro-developmental intervention that can be carried out in every state’s Early Intervention program without concerns for adverse effects yet can reduce the lifelong burden of memory problems in thousands of children born with IUGR.