DeBiasi Lab

Our Research

Congenital Viral Infection, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Lyme and Tickborne Infection

PECOS (Pediatric COVID and MIS-C Outcomes Study)

Children’s National Hospital in partnership with NIAID, has enrolled over 1000 children who have recovered from SARS CoV2 infection and healthy controls into a prospective, longitudinal cohort study to identify long term outcomes, risk factors for severity and complications. Comprehensive evaluation includes physical examination, medical history and diagnoses, cardiac (EKG, Echocardiography, Cardiac MRI), pulmonary (Chest CT/CXR, Pulmonary Function Testing), psychological and developmental outcomes, as well as a biobank of blood, respiratory and urine, stool and host genome specimens. Roberta DeBiasi, MD, MS, serves as the overall and Children's National site principal investigator (PI) of this study.

PREVAIL

Children’s National participates as a four center consortium funded by NICHD, including UCSF, Emory and Cornell Universities to apply molecular sequencing, clinical metadata and machine learning to identify biomarkers and develop diagnostics for SARS Co-V2 and MIS-C disease severity, as well as distinguishing between MISC and other hyperinflammatory conditions affecting children (KD, viral and bacterial sepsis, rheumatologic disorders). Roberta DeBiasi, MD, MS,  serves as Children's National PI for this project.

PELOS – (Pediatric Lyme Disease Outcomes Study)

Children’s National in partnership with NIAID, is enrolling children of all ages with all stages of Lyme Disease and healthy controls into a prospective, longitudinal cohort study to identify pediatric-specific natural history and long-term outcomes of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi. Comprehensive evaluation includes physical examination, medical history and diagnoses, neurocognitive and psychological assessments and a biobank of blood, stool and host genome specimens. Alexandra Yonts, MD and Roberta DeBiasi, MD, MS serve as PI and co-investigator (Co-I) of this study.

Clinical Trials Network for Lyme and other Tickborne Diseases

Children’s National is one of three founding sites (and the only pediatric-specific site) for the Cohen Foundation funded Clinical Trials Network for Lyme and other Tickborne Diseases (founded in 2020), including Columbia and Johns Hopkins Universities. This research network develops and carries out clinical trials focused on patients with long term complications of Lyme Disease. The CNH site is focused specifically on novel diagnostics for pain syndromes and the impact of Lyme Disease at the Maternal/Fetal interface. Roberta DeBiasi, MD, MS, is the overall PI of the Children's National site. Sarah Mulkey, MD, PhD,  leads the maternal/fetal Lyme study.

Congenital Infection Program and Congenital Perinatal Infection Consortium (CPIC)

CPIC, part of Rare Disease Research Network performs multisite studies focused on the natural history, novel treatments and outcomes of infants with severe congenital and perinatal infection due to Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), Enterovirus and Parechovirus. Roberta DeBiasi, MD, MS, is site PI for these studies – recent/current studies noted below.

  • Neonatal Enterovirus/Parechovirus Sepsis: This study focuses on the natural history of newborns with sepsis due to enterovirus and parechovirus infection, including evaluation of viral load and other parameters and correlation with clinical outcomes.
  • Safety and PK study of Letermovir as Adjunctive treatment for Congenital CMV Infection: This study evaluates PK and safety of the antiviral agent letermovir used in conjunction with standard of care valganciclovir in the treatment of newborns with symptomatic congenital CMV infection, with the hope of improving long term outcomes.
  • Long-term outcomes of Infants treated with Valganciclovir for Congenital CMV infection: This study evaluates the long-term hearing outcomes of infants with symptomatic congenital CMV infection treated with valganciclovir, as well as assessment of hormonal function and oncogenicity.

Children’s National Congenital Infection Program (co-led by Roberta DeBiasi, MD, MS and Sarah Mulkey, MD, PhD) provides infectious diseases and fetal/neonatal neurology expertise for the diagnosis, management and research related to congenital infections including Zika Virus, Cytomegalovirus (CMV), HSV, COVID, Toxoplasma, Lyme, Chagas and other infections. The program provides consultative expertise to the CDC with regard to Zika infection and carries out NIH-funded research on the long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants with in-utero Zika infection, led by Sarah Mulkey, MD, PhD. Patients have access to enrollment in clinical research related to congenital infection.