Walter Chen, M.D., Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Deberardinis Lab at Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) and a first-year UT Southwestern Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellow, earned in 2022 the Marshall Klaus Neonatal-Perinatal Research Award — one of the highest honors for neonatology fellows.

The award is given to outstanding fellows to fund the initiation or completion of their research projects. Dr. Chen’s proposal was one of nine selected from a highly competitive group of applicants.

Under the mentorship of Ralph DeBerardinis, M.D., Ph.D., a Professor at CRI, Dr. Chen will study uncharacterized human proteins in metabolic organelles — the specialized entities in our cells that carry out distinct functions essential for life. Dysfunction of these organelles is often the result of genetic mutations and can lead to severe metabolic disorders in newborns. Finding treatment for these patients is challenging without first pinpointing the exact gene responsible for the disease and understanding the function of the corresponding protein.

Dr. Chen’s previous work pioneered techniques to examine the metabolic contents of these organelles, leading to an Emerging Generation Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation earlier this year.

“From a fundamental basic science perspective, it’s always been important to characterize the genes and proteins that make us tick,” Dr. Chen said. “But as a neonatologist looking at this project through a disease-oriented perspective, given that organellar dysfunction can cause devastating pathology within the first few days of life, I strongly believe that studying uncharacterized organellar proteins will improve how we diagnose and treat metabolic diseases in newborns.”

The task of identifying and characterizing organelle proteins is complex, something Dr. Chen recognizes wouldn’t be possible in many other labs.

“Ralph and the CRI have spent an incredible amount of time and resources to make research like this possible,” Dr. Chen said. “The Genetic and Metabolic Disease program here connects the bench to the bedside, allowing us to work directly with patients as well. In terms of physician-scientist mentorship, I consider myself fortunate to work with Ralph. It is rare to find someone who practices pediatrics and also runs a lab that does science at his level.”