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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

4/ This visit was part of Stream 2 of Building Scientists for Bangladesh, where we open our labs to bring young people closer to science. We loved having Sunnydale in our labs, and if you would like your school to visit us next, email us at buildingscientists@chrfbd.org !

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

3/ Between all the questions, we also got to hear about their dreams. Some want to explore the tiny world of microbes, while others dream of reaching all the way into space. Some are still figuring out which path to take, but one thing seemed certain: they want science to be part of their future.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

2/ They explored our labs, met our scientists, and saw a little of what science looks like beyond their textbooks. The afternoon ended in conversation with Dr. Senjuti Saha, and the questions kept coming: Can diseases ever truly be eradicated? What does a career in science actually look like?

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

1/ This Wednesday, our labs got a little busier and a lot more curious as we welcomed 20 students from Sunnydale School for a lab tour at CHRF.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

2/ This month, let’s learn to recognise the signs, understand the importance of early detection, and build awareness that stays with us long after October ends.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

1/ October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to learn, raise awareness, and stand in support of the millions of women around the world who have been affected by breast cancer. #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

5/ We are proud to have been part of this initiative, and remain committed to advancing respiratory health research and strengthening research capacity in Bangladesh and beyond.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

4/ Findings from CHRF’s Photovoice study, which explored how chronic respiratory disease affects people’s everyday lives, were presented through a poster and discussed during lightning sessions.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

3/ Since 2018, RESPIRE has been a valued research partner of CHRF. Representing CHRF at the meeting were Dr. Mohammad Shahidul Islam, Associate Scientist, and Hakka Naziat, Research Investigator, who shared CHRF’s work and contributed to discussions on research capacity building in Bangladesh.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

2/ RESPIRE is a global research partnership between 8 countries, focused on improving respiratory health across Asia.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

1/ A decade of respiratory health research, capacity building, and partnership came together at the final RESPIRE (NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Respiratory Health) Annual Scientific Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

From vibrant plates to colourful tubes, microbiology has its own little palette. Here's a glimpse into the colourful side of microbiology, through the lens of our Building Scientists for Bangladesh (BSB) trainees at CHRF!

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

2/ Neonatal sepsis remains a major concern, affecting babies during the very first days of life. That is why neonatal health continues to be one of CHRF’s major priorities. This Sepsis Awareness Month, we are sharing the research, progress, and people behind that journey.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

1/ Our latest newsletter is here, and this time, we are sharing our journey to better understand and improve neonatal health. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow the journey: chrf.kit.com/df298b6a7f

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

2/ Our work spans large-scale studies, long-term surveillance, antimicrobial resistance research, genomics and clinical trials, all contributing local evidence to better understand, prevent and treat these infections. We continue this work with one goal - give every newborn a safer start in life.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

1/ On World Sepsis Day, we are reminded of the challenge sepsis continues to pose, especially for newborns during their first 28 days of life. At CHRF, we have been working for years to better understand neonatal sepsis in Bangladesh.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

2/ As dengue remains a serious health concern in Bangladesh, having data from our own country is essential to inform the right public health decisions.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

1/ Even at CHRF, folds are important! Here is a folded envelope protein from the dengue virus. Our researchers are studying its structure to understand whether available dengue vaccines could be a good match for the strains circulating in Bangladesh.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

2/ It helped us identify different bacterial serotypes in samples, generating evidence that contributed to the introduction of not one, but two lifesaving vaccines in Bangladesh: the Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine in 2009 and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in 2015.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

1/ This month, Udvashita marks one year at CHRF. But the machine she is working on has been with us for nearly two decades. As our labs continue to bring in newer technologies, some equipment have been with us long enough to become part of our history. Like this PCR machine!

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

3/ It helped us identify different bacterial serotypes in samples, generating evidence that contributed to the introduction of not one, but two lifesaving vaccines in Bangladesh: the Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine in 2009 and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in 2015.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

2/ And when no one is talking, there’s always the beeping of the machines. You know what you’ll never find in our labs? Silence.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

1/ Sometimes, researchers quietly discuss results or procedures; other times, lively discussions fill the room. Somewhere in between, you might hear a researcher humming away, deep in thought—all while working to generate the data Bangladesh needs to protect its children.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

2/ By studying their relationship with Salmonella Typhi, the bacterium that causes typhoid, our scientists are looking beyond hospital walls to uncover the true burden of typhoid in Bangladesh.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

1/ Here, two researchers sit across from each other, a shelf between them and a shared curiosity about the microscopic world. At CHRF, this curiosity has led them to a particularly tiny subject of study: bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

4/ Perhaps that is why, years later, trainees still return to share their achievements with her. Because while Jaasia may be a researcher and science communicator at CHRF, to the young people she has taught and inspired, she will always be Jaasia apu. ❤️

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

3/ Beyond the lab, she leads science camps and travels to rural communities, bringing science closer to students and helping them see a future in which they, too, can become scientists.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

2/ But for many BSB trainees, she is the person who placed a pipette in their hands for the first time and welcomed them into a real laboratory. She is the one who turned the techniques they had only read about in textbooks into something they could finally learn and do with their own hands.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

1/ Meet Jaasia Momtahena Hafsa, Research Officer & Science Communicator at CHRF. In our molecular biology lab, Jaasia works to characterize pathogens, helping address critical gaps in our understanding of infectious diseases.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

5/ From a BSB trainee, to a research fellow, to a collaborator helping bring science to the next generation, Tahiyah’s journey shows how one connection can grow from a learning experience into a lasting impact.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

4/ Together, CHRF and ShikkaBridge co-sponsored and organized a science camp at Guzadia Abdul Hekim Secondary School in Karimganj, Kishoreganj, reaching 25 inspiring students through interactive and hands-on science learning.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

3/ On 17 August, as the founder of ShikkaBridge, Tahiyah collaborated with us in bringing science to people.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

2/ During her fellowship, Tahiyah worked alongside our teams, gaining hands-on exposure to clinical and molecular techniques used in infectious disease research and pathogen identification. But her 2026 journey with CHRF did not stop at her fellowship.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

1/ In 2024, Tahiyah Hafiz joined CHRF through the Global Health Pathways training program under Building Scientists for Bangladesh (BSB). Two years later, she returned to CHRF, this time as a Visiting Research Fellow and a collaborator.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

6/ Sometimes, one day of seeing science up close can be enough to make a young mind believe that a future in science is possible.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

5/ Watching them leave the day so excited, with so many saying they want to pursue science in the future, was very special for us. It reminded us why creating these opportunities matters.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

4/ For all of them, it was their first time seeing bacteria under a microscope, how antibiotics work on a petri dish, and even DNA up close, things they had only seen in their books until now.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

3/ They spent the day with CHRF researchers, asking questions, exploring new ideas and soaking up every bit of it.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

2/ As part of the BSB initiative, we brought our Science Camp to Guzadia Abdul Hekim Secondary School. We spent the day with 25 bright, curious and incredibly enthusiastic young students, many with big dreams for science.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

1/ Yesterday, we took a part of our lab from Dhaka to Kishoreganj in collaboration with ShikkaBridge, an educational non-profit founded by one of our Building Scientists for Bangladesh (BSB) trainees, Tahiyah.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

1/ This International Youth Day, we celebrate young people who are resilient, curious, and passionate, no matter where they come from. At CHRF, we are fortunate to witness this every day through our Building Scientists for Bangladesh (BSB) initiative.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

9/ This is what science can look like when we put our best foot forward and work together. Thank you to Biohub for a long-term collaboration rooted in the shared belief that lasting scientific capacity is essential for the future of science.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

8/ For their final talk, hosted by Building Scientists for Bangladesh, they surprised us by wearing Jamdani sharees they themselves chose and bought directly from weavers in Narayanganj.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

7/ Genay and Juliana embodied that throughout their visit, sharing their knowledge with our team, learning from our experiences, and visiting our surveillance site in Mirzapur to see the people, processes, and communities behind the data.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

6/ Now, in 2026, the spirit behind that partnership remains the same: building scientific capacity that can thrive locally.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

5/ It was the beginning of a partnership that helped us establish our sequencing capacity in Bangladesh, which became invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we were able to provide more than 90,000 free COVID-19 diagnoses and sequence Bangladesh’s first SARS-CoV-2 genome.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

4/ But this story began eight years ago, when CHRF first travelled to Biohub for genomics training.

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Child Health Research Foundation @chrfbd.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

3/ They spent the week with our Genomics Team, building on our existing RNA metagenomics work through hands-on training, troubleshooting, and finding ways to make our approaches even stronger.

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