Montana State students publish paper validating optimal caffeine dosage for newborns with heart disease

BOZEMAN - Montana State University students published a paper alongside Duke University researchers in the Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics this spring, validating a study on the optimal caffeine dosage for newborn babies with congenital heart disease.

External validation means the research findings could be put to use in hospitals nationwide, beyond the group of patients studied at Duke, said Dr. Danny Benjamin, affiliate professor in MSU's Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology and Duke University STAR principal investigator and pediatrics professor.

Benjamin said such validation is not often done in pediatric research because of the difficulty of studying infant populations. He noted that administering medication to babies based on adult trials can have harmful results but that it has only been since 2002 that laws were passed to require drug testing for children. MSU students are given the chance to participate in devising ethical, groundbreaking pediatric studies through Duke's Summer Training in Academic Research program. MSU's connection to STAR began in 2024, and Duke-MSU STAR reserves four to five spots for Montana students in a program that receives more than 1,000 national applicants for just 25 spots each year.

"The goal for STAR as a research program is to invest in students who want to go back to their state and do research and medicine in their state," Benjamin said.

In 2024, three MSU undergraduates and two Montana WWAMI students joined a research effort driven by Liz Thompson, STAR mentor and assistant professor of pediatrics at Duke, that studied caffeine dosages for neonates, or newborns younger than 28 days, who are undergoing a cardiopulmonary bypass for congenital heart disease.

Caffeine can reduce the likelihood of neonates developing acute kidney injury, which can lead to chronic kidney disease, by improving blood flow and reducing inflammation. The treatment is used most commonly for babies born before their due dates and who often experience respiratory issues. Using mathematical modeling and leftover blood samples from the neonate patients, Thompson's team examined how caffeine is metabolized differently in neonates with congenital heart disease. Their study found that hospitals' standard dosage was too low.

Duke-MSU STAR students distilled the team's findings into a journal article in PubMed and, like more than 95% of all STAR participants, they are listed as co-authors on a peer-reviewed publication. Duke-MSU STAR students, some of whom have since graduated from MSU, include Calla Castro, a microbiology alum from Boulder, Colorado; Jessminda DiCello, a junior from Bozeman studying food and nutrition; Courtney Hallock, a third-year Montana WWAMI student from Laurel; Annalisa Hawk, a third-year Montana WWAMI student from Charlo; and Andrea Storer, a cell biology and neuroscience alum from Anchorage, Alaska.

"The more I learned about the pediatrician path through this program and through the research, I realized I do love every part of it, which has been affirming and motivating for me," Storer said.

While preparing the scholarly article, Storer and her classmates spent five weeks shadowing physicians at Duke and receiving career mentorship. Storer, a former Udall Scholar at MSU, said she gained valuable clinical research experience that she presented at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in April 2025. Her insight into the pediatrics field also bolstered her application for medical school, and she will join the University of Washington's School of Medicine through WWAMI, a collaborative program between Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho that aims to train rural physicians. Students complete the first 18 months of foundational medical classes in their home states before starting clinical rotations throughout the WWAMI regions.

Storer has long dreamed of being a pediatrician, ever since she experienced several ear infections as a child. She recalled her pediatrician peering into her ear and pretending to find Disney princesses, asking her to guess who he spotted. Storer said it turned a normally uncomfortable experience into something positive. She would like to do the same for her future patients on the northern slope of Alaska, where she wants to improve medical care for Alaska Native communities.

Benjamin said it's important for students to gain research exposure early in their academic careers because they will one day incorporate their findings into the communities where they practice, particularly in states with large rural areas such as Alaska and Montana. When Benjamin was a medical student at the University of Virginia, he was convinced he'd only do the minimum amount of research until he discovered pediatric studies.

"If you had told me at the start of medical school that I was either going to fly to the moon or have a research-focused career, my response would have been, 'That's awesome, I'm going to be an astronaut!'" he said. "So getting exposed to research is important."

Hallock said STAR was a great fit for her because it did not require prior clinical research experience like other programs. She felt that requirement was a barrier to engaging in unique projects, especially when she grew up without immediate family members involved in medicine and previously struggled to analyze scientific literature.

Now, having published and presented research from Duke, Hallock feels well prepared for practicing medicine in the future. She will apply for residency programs this fall and, though Hallock could join a hospital in any location, she said she would be privileged to practice in Montana someday and give back to the state she calls home.

Both Hallock and Storer will work on their second STAR projects this year while an incoming class of five MSU students joins the program in June.

"What's a better use of your time than doing research to potentially, even in the tiniest way, improve the care of a child?" Hallock said.