Who we are: The BBOP (Baby Brain Optimization Project) at the Emory + Children's Pediatric Institute is a multidisciplinary team of physicians, therapists, researchers, psychologists, engineers, community partners, educators, and students. 

Who we serve: Preterm infants, children with cerebral palsy or other developmental conditions, families, community organizations, academic partners, students, and healthcare providers of all types

What we do: We primarily focus on applied research. We develop low-cost interventions based on neuroscience. We increase families’ access to these interventions, especially in areas with poor social determinants of health. We support family empowerment through education, providing resources for those with developmental disabilities. We implement the best evidence in research with our stakeholders to transform healthcare, education and community programs. 

APPLES-Tele: Supporting parents to help babies and toddlers develop arm and hand function

This study was created to test if early intervention in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) can improve unimanual fine motor skills. Implementing a parent-centered approach increases participation and using telemedicine can improve accessibility to the medical team.

Who can participate in the study? Children may be able to participate if they are between 4 and 13 months of age and have cerebral palsy or have been told they are at high risk for cerebral palsy.

Find out more information here: 

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04997109?term=APPLES-tele&cntry=US&state=US%3AGA&city=Atlanta&draw=2&rank=1

https://cpresource.org/apples-tele-study


 

GMAT: General Movements Assessments in the NICU

Early detection and referral to evidence-based interventions can improve long-term outcomes of infants with neurological and motor disorders. ​Cranial ultrasounds can be very specific in predicting these problems, but not all NICU infants can recieve a cranial ultrasound due to location or the expense of cranial ultrasounds. This study works to develop a sensory mat technology to measure pressure in infant movements and improve early screening and referral in high-risk infants.​ 

Who can participate in the study?

Babies between 36-44 weeks Corrected Gestational Age who are not on mechanical ventilation, have not had major thoracic or abdominal surgery for 7-days, and have not been administered opiates or sedatives for at least 24-hours. 

3 for the Under 3: A new intervention to support parents of children with movement delays!

*This study is not currently enrolling*

We teach parents of young children with motor delays how to help their child learn new movement skills using group discussions, the best new research, and practical videos posted on Facebook. If you have a child under 3 years old with or at high risk for a motor delay and would like more information, please email us at BBOP@emory.edu or call/text at (470) 372-8378.

Who can participate in the study?

Any child under the age of 3 who has a motor (movement) delay.

Find out more information here:

https://cpresource.org/3-under-3-new-intervention-support-parents-children-movement-delays?fbclid=IwAR12dGjEf8er3NsVGzrRTh_5qR3JM0-bPs0YtavSNRzUHdjkK35pjFrO3gI 

 


 

MIND: Multisensory Intervention for Infant Neurodevelopment​

*This study is not currently enrolling*

This study was created for babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It tests whether consistent exposure to a parent's voice (auditory), exposure to a parent's scented cloth (olfactory), modified skin-to-skin holding with therapists (vestibular and auditory), and kangaroo care binders (tactile and proprioceptive)​ can improve multisensory processing and result in improved motor and language outcomes at 1 and 2 years of age. 

Who can participate in the study? 

Almost any baby who has reached the corrected age of 32 to 36 weeks and is NOT on the ventilator at that time (CPAP is okay).

Find out more information here: 

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03232931?term=Nathalie+Maitre&cntry=US&state=US%3AGA&city=Atlanta&draw=2&rank=2

Additional resources from our lab members

Nationwide Children's Hospital Doctor featured in Netflix docuseries Babies | Fox28 News

https://myfox28columbus.com/good-day-columbus/nationwide-childrens-hospital-doctor-featured-in-netflix-docuseries-babies

  • Video clip of Dr. Maitre's work at Nationwide Hospital:

           https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3097998036904597

How touch can shape babies’ brain development | Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-preemies-touch-idUKKBN16O2IH

Summer Camp (more information for summer 2024 coming soon!)

Our camp is for children between 9 and 36 months with possible motor delays or Cerebral Palsy.

Archived 2023 flyer:

Nathalie Maitre, MD, PhD - Principal Investigator

Dr. Maitre is a board-certified neonatologist and research investigator with a focus on neurodevelopment in high-risk newborns and developmental interventions after neural injury. In the Department of Pediatrics at Emory, she serves as the Director of Research in Early Development and Cerebral Palsy. Dr. Maitre’s lab’s research focuses on neurodevelopment in high-risk newborns and rehabilitation of long-term disabilities. She emphasizes the development of quantitative measures of neural function in infants to allow the rational design and testing of parent-based and technology-assisted strategies. She continues to work with engineering and mathematical modeling teams in the US and Switzerland to develop new methodologies for brain-based assessment and therapy in infants and young children.

Melissa Murphy, PhD - Director of Research Projects

Dr. Murphy is a developmental psychologist with a PhD in Educational Psychology who is passionate about empowering individuals and teams to reach their potential. Her early research focused on language and cognitive development of youth with genetic vulnerabilities for developmental disorders and the role of family characteristics, including parental well-being, on child outcomes. Building upon this work, she has also studied how factors, such as teacher knowledge and experience, influence child outcomes and how to translate knowledge of such factors into teaching practice and classroom settings.

Since becoming the Director of Research Projects, Dr. Murphy has worked collaboratively with Dr. Maitre and the BBOP team to build the infrastructure necessary to support successful pediatric research initiatives focused on clinical intervention, early detection of cerebral palsy, knowledge translation, and implementation science.

Jennifer Denbo, MBA - Program Administrator

Jennifer Denbo, MBA, is Program Administrator at BBOP; she is responsible for financial management of all lab operations, as well as project management of several research studies for which BBOP is serving as the neurodevelopmental core. Having spent over a decade in higher education administration at New York University and Columbia University, she came to this role with extensive prior experience in financial, operations and grants management.

Mary Lauren Neel, MD - Assistant Professor, Neonatology 

Dr. Neel is an assistant professor, physician-scientist, and clinical researcher. She is passionate about how parents can improve neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm infants and studies parenting and parent/child interactions in multimodal ways including questionnares, behavioral coding, and EEGs.

Larken Marra, PhD - Cerebral Palsy Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Marra received her PhD in Kinesiology, with a focus in Adapted Physical Activity, from the University of Michigan. Prior to that, she received her bachelors and masters degrees from Indiana University, where she was a Sam H. Jones Scholar and Service Learning Assistant for the Adapted Motor Programs housed within the Department of Health and Human Sciences. Dr. Marra's past experiences have shaped her research interests in community-based programming for individuals with disabilities. At BBOP, Dr. Marra coordinates all of the sites for the APPLES-tele study, she is part of the team of developmental specialists who runs the 3 for the Under 3 study, and she is working with collaborators from around the world and UNICEF to implement early detection and intervention of CP protocols in low resource countries. 

Caitlin P. Kjeldsen, PhD, LPMT, MT-BC (NICU-MT) - Postdoctoral Fellow

Pronouns: She/her

Dr. Caitlin P. Kjeldsen is a postdoctoral fellow on the BBOP team with a PhD in Speech and Hearing Science from The Ohio State University (Go Buckeyes!). Before completing her PhD, Dr. Kjeldsen worked with the BBOP as a board-certified music therapist, primarily working with preterm infants and their families. Dr. Kjeldsen now leads the lab's EEG efforts and conducts research both in the NICU and in the lab. Her research interests include the intersection of music and movement in early childhood, particularly how auditory experience both in the NICU and after discharge shapes the long-term neurodevelopment of high-risk infants. One of Dr. Kjeldsen's favorite past lab expereinces was leading the mobility station at CAMP 2023!

Lynn Comerford - Neonatal Nurse Practitioner

Lynn has worked in the NICU for 23 years, first as a bedside nurse and then as a nurse practitioner. For the past 16 years, she has worked in a High Risk Follow-up Clinic, doing developmental follow-up for NICU graduates. Currently, her time is divided between working in the High Risk Follow-up Clinic and the Baby Brain Optimization Program (BBOP). At BBOP, she performs neurologic exams and participates in parent education.

Megan Moran, MMT, LPMT, MT-BC (NICU-MT) - Research Music Therapist

Megan is a board-certified music therapist and has her NICU Music Therapy certification through the National Institute for the Infant & Child Medical Music Therapy. She has been practicing music therapy for 6-years with in a wide variety of settings to include infants, children, and adults. She has a Master of Music Therapy degree from Maryville University St. Louis and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pepperdine University. She is most interested in the effects of singing on various outcomes such as development, speech, and respiratory function. 

Lisa Pinson, PT, DPT - Physical Therapist

 Lisa is a pediatric physical therapist with over 20 years of clinical and research experience. At the BBOP, Lisa primarily focuses on the APPLES-tele research study. In addition to Lisa's BBOP work, she is involved in NICU clinical care at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta - Egleston.

Natalie Brane, MS, CCC-SLP - Speech-Language Pathologist

Natalie is a licensed speech-language pathologist on the BBOP team. Natalie supports research efforts in the NICU setting, participates in parent training, and leads developmental assessments within longitudinal studies. Natalie is passionate about early social communication development and supporting and empowering caregivers. In addition to Natalie’s BBOP contributions, she is also involved in clinical and research programs at Marcus Autism Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.  

Allison McIntyre, MOT OT/L, CCRP - Lead Occupational Therapist

Allison McIntyre, MOT OT/L CCRP is the lead Occupational Therapist at the BBOP Lab. She has worked across the lifespan in neurorehabilitation as an occupational therapist and is interested in research protocols that promote  access to evidence-based interventions across social determinants of health and other barriers. Allison leads a team of occupational and physical therapists for the APPLES-tele study, a telemedicine study for early childhood constraint and parent-delivered therapy for infants with or who are at risk for cerebral palsy. Allison studied Movement Science at University of Michigan, received her master’s in occupational therapy from Eastern Michigan University, and is completing a fellowship in Clinical and Translational Research Ethics at the Medical University of South Carolina. 

 

Will Kjeldsen - Health Educator

Will is a licensed educator; his primary focus at BBOP is on the 3 for the Under 3 study, which is an educational study for parents that have children with motor delays. Will also works with community programming at the BBOP lab, including CAMP, and is passionate about further supporting children and parents in the metro-Atlanta community. Will is also part of the lab's social media team.

Paige Scarbrough Ryals, BA - Clinical Research Coordinator

Paige grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta and graduated from Duke University in 2016 with a degree in psychology. She worked on a few projects while she was at Duke, including a study looking at how infants understand and learn about emotional expressions and a study evaluating a music therapy program for kids with autism. In the BBOP Lab, Paige coordinates the MIND NICU study and APPLES-tele study.

 

 

Kanishka Baduni - Doctoral Student

Kanishka Baduni is a doctoral student at the University of Georgia collaborating with the BBOP lab. She is a physical therapist by profession who is passionate about pediatrics! She aims to better understand the relation between movement and cognitive constructs, problem-solving abilities in infants to be precise and hopes to eventually contribute towards science to promote holistic and child-focused development interventions.

 

Katie Shin - Undergraduate Clinical Research Assistant

Katie is an undergraduate student at Emory University double majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and Music Research on the pre-medicine track. She is currently focusing on supporting the GMAT study in regional NICUs as well as MIND participant follow-up and the APPLES-Tele study. Her research interests include using music therapy for rehabilitation in clinical settings and examining the impact of social determinants of health in pediatric populations. 

 

Kate Huang - Undergraduate Research Assistant

Kate is an undergraduate student at Emory University, pursuing a Chemistry major and Global Health minor while on the pre-med track. At BBOP, she plays a vital role in the APPLES-TELE team, focusing on recruitment, participant visits, WECS coding, and data evaluation. With a passionate commitment to her research, Kate's primary focus lies in enhancing accessibility and innovating care for vulnerable pediatric populations, particularly those with disabilities.

 

Chaya Tong - Undergraduate Research Assistant

Chaya is an undergraduate student at Emory University double majoring in English and biology. At BBOP, she assists with the 1998 and Apples-tele studies. Once a 2-lb preemie baby and "NICU graduate," Chaya is passionate about giving back to research on pre-term infants. 

 

Amarianna Hines - Undergraduate Research Assistant

Amarianna is an undergraduate biomedical engineering student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. At BBOP, she is currently working as an engineering intern to process and analyze EEG data and helping to develop standard guidelines for future EEG data processing and analyses. 

 

Jodit Yimenu- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Jodit is a Junior at Emory University on the Pre-med track. She is a Human Health major and Spanish minor with a specific research interest in maternal and child health. At the BBOP Lab, she assists in data evaluation and participant follow-up as a student research assistant to the MIND and SNAKE studies. She also works on CAMP data entry and evaluation.

 

Ana Barahona - Undergraduate Research Assistant

Ana Barahona is a senior at Georgia State University on the pre-med track. She is a neuroscience major with a specific research interest in neurodevelopmental disorders. At BBOP, she is currently assisting the APPLES-Tele team with participant visits. 

Kayla Beck - Undergraduate Research Assistant

Kayla is an undergraduate student at Emory University majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and minoring in Music. At BBOP, she is currently working on the CP360 project. Her research interests include Early intervention and detection in CP.