UC San Diego Assistant Professor Awarded Grant for Work on Sickle Cell Anemia

The March of Dimes has awarded $150,000 grants to two up-and-coming scientists, including one at UC San Diego.

The Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award is a signature March of Dimes grant for scientists as they embark on lifelong research.  

Hojun Li, MD, PhD, a pediatric hematologist and assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSD, will use his grant to build upon the creation of a simple, portable and effective test that will identify newborns with sickle cell anemia. The condition affects about 1 in 2,000 babies in the U.S. and more acutely impacts people of African descent.

Sickle cell disease causes mutant hemoglobin molecules to stretch out red blood cells, making them unable to fit through blood vessels and deliver oxygen, ultimately leading to infections, severe pain, stroke and other life-threatening conditions. Li’s test will focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, where 250,000 babies are born each year with the condition, with 95% of those dying in the first five years due to infection and other complications.  

The test developed by Li and a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology master’s student, Amelia Seabold, now at University of Oxford in England, will use genome editing technology CRISPR to identify the mutated sickle cell gene within minutes from a single drop of blood.

The recipient is Emily Partridge, MD, PhD, MHS, a pediatric and fetal surgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania.

Partridge’s work will build upon her existing research to advance the artificial womb, a fluid-filled sac modeled after the uterus made to improve developmental outcomes for extremely preterm babies, those babies born at or before 25 weeks of pregnancy.

“Our Basil O’Connor awards have a rich history, with past winners going on to make truly outstanding achievements in the field of maternal and infant health,” said March of Dimes Chief Scientific Advisor Dr. Emre Seli in a news release. “Drs. Partridge and Li are two shining stars in our field, and we couldn’t be prouder to support their work for preterm babies and those with sickle cell disease.”

The awards, named for the first March of Dimes chairman and president, are part of the organization’s research strategy to address the multi-faceted nature of maternal and infant health. The funding is intended to support discovery, translational and social science research and data collection and analysis.