ARLINGTON, Va. – October 29, 2026 -- March of Dimes has awarded $150,000 each to two early-career researchers, committing $300,000 in total through its 2026 Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Awards. The recipients are Dr. Helen Vuong, PhD, of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and Dr. Laurie Eldredge, MD, PhD, of the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Vuong to test whether the maternal gut microbiome carries iron's effects to the fetal brain
Vuong, an assistant professor in Minneapolis, studies the intersection of the maternal gut microbiome and fetal neurobiology. Her grant targets iron, an essential micronutrient that is deficient in 50 percent of pregnant women globally.
Her earlier research found that a healthy maternal gut microbiome supports fetal brain development partly through small molecules called metabolites. The new project will test whether iron deficiency alters the composition of the gut microbiome, changes the bioavailability of those metabolites and harms the fetal brain.
It will also examine whether iron's effect on the fetal brain depends on the presence of a gut microbiome. A further question is whether the microbiome and its products can mitigate damage from low maternal iron stores.
Eldredge to evaluate vimentin as a predictor of severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Eldredge is a pediatric pulmonologist and assistant professor in Seattle. She researches bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a serious lung condition in preterm babies that can lead to lifelong lung disease.
Her prior work found abnormal activity in the epithelial cells lining the respiratory tract of babies with severe BPD. Levels of the protein vimentin may be a biomarker of that activity, and therefore a predictor of severe disease.
The grant will test whether vimentin levels correlate with BPD-related airway disease over time. It will also test whether the protein merely reports on disease or can be raised or lowered to change its course. The stated aim is reliable biomarkers and targeted therapeutics to predict and treat severe BPD.
March of Dimes frames the awards as early-career pipeline funding
March of Dimes Chief Scientific Advisor Dr. Emre Seli said both projects are novel and carry potential to "transform outcomes for moms and babies in this lifetime." He noted that past awardees have gone on to make foundational discoveries, lead governmental health agencies and win the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
The awards are named after March of Dimes' first chairman and president. They form part of a research strategy that dedicates funding to data collection and analysis, scientific discovery, and translational and social science research by early-career investigators.