About IAC Research

How do we choose a project?
Choosing which ideas to pursue is, perhaps, the most difficult challenge we face. First, a research project needs to be relevant to our mission. How will the information assist children or families? Second, we need to feel that we have the ability to bring a project to completion. For example, do we see enough children with a particular problem and do we have the appropriate skills to conduct the study. Third, will the project give insight into why something happens or, in other words, clues to important mechanisms of action? Finally, is there a potential funding source for the project? After all, research is expensive.

How are the results of research projects communicated?
In general, our initial or preliminary results are communicated within the context of closed scientific meetings. At this point, informal feedback from others working in the field aids us in interpreting our data. Once the study is completed and all data analyzed, a manuscript is prepared for submission to a scholarly journal. This peer review process involves three to four anonymous experts in the field who provide feedback on the quality, relevance and acceptability of the manuscript to both author and editor. Once the manuscript is accepted, actual publication in the journal can take 4-8 months.

How can I keep track of research projects in the International Adoption Clinic?
From the start of a research project to final publication in a scientific journal takes years. However, the deliberate, unbiased determination of whether research data support specific conclusions is critical. As exciting as research findings may be, early release of information, prior to the completion of the full review process jeopardizes acceptability of the final manuscript by the most widely read journals. However, families need not wait until this process runs the full course to learn about the progress of specific research projects. Explore this webpage for updated reports that keep you informed on the progress of research that you are helping to fund.

How is research funded and why are individual donors important?
The most consistent and largest source of support for our research are individual donors. In order to compete successfully for large industry, foundation and federal grants, preliminary data must be gathered to show that a project is both feasible and addresses an important issue. Individual donations from supporter such as you provide the key “start up” funds for all of our projects.

Once preliminary data are gathered, larger proposals can be submitted to compete for larger grants. Pharmaceutical companies fund projects that have the promise of developing a marketable product or increase the use of an agent already produced by the company. Genentech, a maker of human growth hormone, partially funds our research project looking at post-adoption growth in Eastern European adoptees. Private Foundations are an important source of research dollars but focus funding in areas of particular interest to the individuals who set up the endowment. Research projects must therefore “fit” into the mission of the foundation before being considered. The Emma B. Howe Foundation funded one of our early studies on the health status of international adoptees as Ms. Howe had an interest in the health of children living in poverty. Federal funding is sought by all investigators but has never been harder to obtain. The National Institutes of Health the source of most biomedical research funding in the United States has experienced significant budget cuts over the past few years with the result that out of every 100 research grants submitted fewer than 5-8 are currently being funded. The National Institutes of Health funded the International Adoption Project that investigated the outcome of international adoption in Minnesota families.

Development of a Research Project

Our current study on the growth of Eastern European children after adoption is a good example of how this process works.

The Clinical Problem
From our clinical practice we knew that growth was an issue for some international adoptees. Children were short at the time of arrival and never caught up. This was of great concern to many adoptive families.

Preliminary Data
We chose children from Eastern Europe after our preliminary studies, funded by individual donors, demonstrated that these children had the highest rate of growth failure after adoption (about 10% of children).

Design of the Project
While we saw many children from Eastern Europe in the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota, we needed more subjects than we could reliably recruit in a reasonable period of time. We also needed expertise in pediatric endocrinology, the pediatric subspecialty that deals with growth problems. Drs. Anna Petryk and Brad Miller, pediatric endocrinologists at the University of Minnesota brought their skills to the project and Dr. Patrick Mason, also a pediatric endocrinologist added his expertise as well as additional patients from Eastern Europe from the International Adoption Center, Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children, Fairfax, Virginia.

Funding
Based on our preliminary data, we submitted a proposal to Genentech, a pharmaceutical company that produces human growth hormone. Genetech agreed to fund the portions of this proposal that focus on the roles of endocrine factors in catch-up growth. The remaining funding comes individual donors.

Preliminary results of the study