Trent E. Tipple, MD

About Trent Tipple

Trent E. Tipple, M.D., F.A.A.P., is the chief of neonatology at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital at OU Health. Dr. Tipple is professor and chief of the section of neonatal-perinatal medicine in the department of pediatrics and holds the Reba McEntire Endowed Chair in neonatology. He has clinical expertise in the management of patients with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Dr. Tipple is an adjunct professor of physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He has an active laboratory-based research program investigating mechanisms of lung injury and repair in preterm infants and has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Thoracic Society, and the American Heart Association. Outside of work, Dr. Tipple enjoys spending time with his family and traveling. He is excited to develop statewide engagement with frontline neonatal providers throughout Oklahoma and to support the development of personnel and programs that will provide outstanding outcomes for Oklahoma’s tiniest citizens.

Medical Interests Areas of Interest:

As a neonatologist and physician-scientist, my long-term research goal is to develop novel approaches to predict or prevent the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in premature infants. I have studied the role of the thioredoxin (Trx) system in lung injury for nearly 20 years and have expertise in redox signaling and in murine models of oxidant lung injury. Our primary focus has been the investigation of the mechanisms by which disruption of the selenoprotein thioredoxin reductase-1 (TXNRD1) elicits pulmonary protection. We identified that the TXNRD1 disruption attenuates hyperoxia-induced deficits in lung development in neonatal and adult mice via activation of Nrf2-regulated endogenous antioxidant responses. Nrf2-mediated responses are differentially modified by sufficiency of the trace mineral selenium (Se). Given the presence of Se deficiency in preterm infants and in critically ill patients, the impact of Se and selenoprotein synthesis on lung development and responses to TXNRD1 inhibitors are currently the primary focus of our group.