Pitt Pediatrics congratulates Kathryn Torok, MD, and Wei Chen, PhD for their recent grants for their research on pediatric Scleroderma using multiomic and AI-guided approaches. Torok is an associate professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Pediatric Scleroderma Clinic at Children’s. Chen is a professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Statistical Genetics Core in the department. 
The first grant is titled “A Collaborative Multiomic Approach to Pediatric Scleroderma (CMAPS) to Molecularly Characterize and Stratify Patients” from the Department of Defense, U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. This research was in collaboration with the University of Liverpool.
The second grant is tilted “Integrating Spatial and Single-Cell Transcriptomics with Histology to Define Endotypes in Pediatric Scleroderma” from the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). This research was in collaboration with the University of Miami and UT Southwestern.
The final grant is titled “Spatial Transcriptomics of Skin to Augment Understanding of Cellular Interactions and Disease Propagation in Juvenile Scleroderma” from the Scleroderma Research Foundation.
All three of these grants come at a time when the University of Pittsburgh is focused on integrating AI in multiple levels of research and medicine, showing that AI can be beneficial in aiding researchers, physicians and students in their discoveries and work at all stages.
Join us congratulating Dr. Torok and Dr. Chen for these fantastic awards, and for more grant news, follow the Department of Pediatrics on BlueSky.