Developmental Biology, Genetics, and Teratology (DBGT) Branch NICHD

According to a recent report from the March of Dimes, birth defects (as defined broadly to include both structural and functional/metabolic abnormalities) continue to be a major public health concern: “Every year, an estimated 7.9 million children—6 percent of total births worldwide—are born with a serious birth defect of genetic or partially genetic origin.”1 Even in the United States, the birth defects prevalence is 4.8 percent of live births.2 Birth defects remain a leading cause of infant mortality. In addition, structural abnormalities, such as neural tube defects (NTDs), congenital heart defects, craniofacial anomalies, and abnormalities of the musculoskeletal, digestive, respiratory, and urogenital systems, contribute significantly to disabilities of infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adult life. The emotional stress on families and afflicted individuals and the economic impact are enormous. Although the incidence of neural tube defects has declined in recent years due, in large part, to folate supplementation of grains, the incidence of many other types of structural abnormalities remains unchanged.
A longstanding goal of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is to support and encourage research on the underlying mechanisms of normal development as well as the molecular susceptibility and etiology of human birth defects, namely though the programs of the Developmental Biology, Genetics, and Teratology (DBGT) Branch. The mission of the Branch is to support a comprehensive national effort to increase understanding of the biological processes controlling both normal and abnormal development. It is through increased knowledge that effective strategies to prevent birth defects will ultimately become possible. One of the messages resulting from the Institute’s strategic planning process on developmental biology was the importance of improving knowledge and understanding of the underlying mechanisms associated with the formation of structural birth defects. Advances in developmental and molecular biology, genetics, and other biotechnologies and disciplines, supported both by the Branch and by other entities, continue to provide medical science with an armamentarium of tools to dissect and understand the complex biological and genetic mechanisms responsible for birth defects.