News & Updates

Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, a rare genetic disease that disrupts the nervous system and can lead to microcephaly and other brain defects, appears to result from a buildup of a cholesterol precursor, according to a new study by NICHD researchers.

Fetal mice exposed in the uterus to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana’s primary psychoactive ingredient, lose a key subset of neurons, according to a new study by NICHD researchers.

Riboflavin (vitamin B2) helps children overcome the devastating effects of a hereditary brain disorder by helping one protein fill in for a disabled protein, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other institutions.

Dr. Cathy Spong became NICHD’s acting director on October 1, 2015. Here she shares her plans for the year and her thoughts on what makes NICHD so unique.

Fetuses with enlarged ventricles—the fluid-filled cavities inside the brain—may be less likely than their counterparts to benefit from surgery in the womb to treat spina bifida, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health.

NIH seeks input on a proposed new research program to assess biological, chemical, psychosocial, and other environmental influences on child health outcomes. Join one of NIH’s webinars to learn more.

NICHD supports a variety of research projects and networks that are useful to neuroscientists. Find a detailed list here.

NICHD conducts and supports research on health issues that are unique to women and on how certain diseases affect men and women differently.

The NICHD’s Division of Intramural Population Health Research (DIPHR) provides research updates in its newly released annual report for 2014.

In the last year, research conducted and supported by the NICHD shed new light on the causes of and potential treatments for a number of birth defects.

The National Institutes of Health has launched a subsite of DS-Connect: The Down Syndrome Registry for researchers, clinicians, and other professionals with a scientific interest in Down syndrome to access de-identified data from the registry.

The antiretroviral drugs used to keep HIV at bay are an unqualified success at preventing the spread of the virus from mother to child. The drugs are not only essential for maintaining the health of a pregnant woman with HIV, they have also nearly eliminated the transmission of HIV to her baby. Among U.S. women, the likelihood of a mother passing the virus on to her child is now less than 1%.

Nearly 120,000 babies are born with a birth defect* each year in the United States—one baby every 4.5 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At first glance, it’s hard to see many similarities among people, mice, and zebrafish. But much of what we know about the earliest stages of human development and birth defects come from studying the development of these animals.

The next NICHD Director’s Lecture at the NIH will feature Diana Bianchi, M.D., from Tufts University School of Medicine. Her talk, titled “Changing Paradigms: From Prenatal Genetic Diagnosis to Fetal Individualized Medicine,” will take place on January 21, 2015, 9:00–10:00 a.m., in Lipsett Amphitheater, at NIH’s Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have entered into an agreement with biotechnology company Vtesse, Inc., of Gaithersburg, Maryland, to develop treatments for Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) and other lysosomal storage disorders.

The NIH recently released Down Syndrome Directions: The National Institutes of Health Research Plan on Down Syndrome, an updated strategy to advance research related to Down syndrome.

More than 50 million Americans, about 1 in 5 people, are living with a disability. People with disabilities tend to be less physically active than people without disabilities and have higher rates of corresponding health problems such as obesity, heart disease, hypertension and stroke.

Researchers working with mice have uncovered a potential clue to polydactyly—a birth defect involving extra fingers on the hand or extra toes on the feet. The researchers have found that a mouse version of polydactyly results from a malfunction of the cellular machinery that processes one of the cell’s internal transportation vehicles.

Ensuring the health and wellbeing of pregnant women and newborns is central to the NICHD mission. Scientists supported by our Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch (PPB) conduct research related to improving care for pregnant women and newborns, preventing preterm labor and birth and other birth complications, and treating diseases in newborns.