Public News Service: Children's Mercy attracts top pediatric researchers

By Trimmel Gomes

Kansas City is on its way to becoming an international hub in genomic research and the fight against pediatric diseases.

Two major endowments totaling $150 million last month are being used to lure top-notch pediatric research scientists to study and combat rare diseases in children.

Dr. Tomi Pastinen is director of the Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine. He led a genomic research lab in Montreal for 15 years before taking a position at Children's Mercy last year. Pastinen says the availability to help patients so close to him drew his interest.

"And the whole team taking care of patients which really allows us to rapidly deploy genomic tools in more or less a bedside manner," he says.

Children's Mercy already features the first genome center in a children's hospital. The genome research aims toward finding solutions for complex issues in kids regarding DNA sequencing and analysis, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Read the full article via Public News Service.

Learn more about the Children's Research Institute at Children's Mercy.