RDCC

Rheumatic Disease Core Center (John D. Mountz, MD, PhD, Director, NIAMS P30AR48311)

The goal of the UAB Rheumatic Disease Core Center is to stimulate collaborative and innovative interdisciplinary research in order to enhance our fundamental understanding of disease mechanisms and their application to human rheumatic diseases.  Through this understanding, the UAB-RDCC's goal is to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with arthritis and musculoskeletal diseases.  Accordingly, our specific aims are:

1)   to facilitate rheumatic disease research through Research Core facilities, which provide scientifically rigorous, state-of-the-art techniques necessary for improved understanding of disease pathogenesis and the development of new treatments, including:

a.   Comprehensive Flow Cytometry Core (J. D. Mountz, Director; O. Kutsch, T. Randall, Co-Directors)

b.   Analytic Imaging and Immunoreagent Core (K. T. Keyser, Director; M. A. Accavitti-Loper, C. Weaver, Co-Directors)

c.   Analytical Genomics and Transgenics Core (R. A. Kesterson, Director; J. Edberg, D. Absher, Co-Directors)

2)   to support outstanding Pilot & Feasibility research projects drawing on the unique strengths of the RDCC research base and using innovative tools and approaches in biomedical science; and 

3)   to provide career development and career enrichment activities to enhance both the mentorship of talented investigators as independent researchers and the continuing education of all of our investigators.

To achieve its specific aims, the UAB-RDCC has worked continuously with its Research Core facilities to develop technical capacities, to assess user needs and to provide a variety of formats for outreach and enrichment, including our IDEAs program (Individualized Design and Experimental Analyses sessions).  The RDCC leadership team has worked with the Institution to support the continued development of available tools and technologies for rheumatic diseases research, and through these efforts the UAB-RDCC provides the opportunity for our investigators to commit their programs to the mission of NIAMS.

Individualized Design of Experiments & Analysis Sessions (IDEAs) – The Directors, Co-Directors and Investigators within each RDCC Core are  available for regularly scheduled “brainstorming” discussions, coined IDEA Sessions, to assist researchers in study design, data interpretation, and planning for/development of new technologies.  For schedule information and to learn more, please click here.

Learn how this ties to the CCTS here.      
 

MCRC

NIAMS Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Center (Robert P. Kimberly, MD; NIAMS P60AR48095)

The UAB Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Center (MCRC) is a program uniquely positioned to promote research related to the causes, diagnoses, treatments and improved care of patients with arthritis and musculoskeletal diseases. Centered on an outstanding Methodology Core (Redden) comprised of faculty in biostatistics, statistical genetics and outcomes/health services research, all with a proven record of collaboration in clinical investigation in musculoskeletal diseases, the Center supports four innovative projects:

1)  Genetic and Molecular Markers of Methotrexate Efficacy and Toxicity in Early RA (Arnett);

2)  Ethnic Differences in Knee OA Pain: Role of Opioid Binding (Bradley);

3)  Predictors of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Severity in African Americans (Bridges); and

4)   Improving Care of Osteoporosis: Multi-Modal Intervention to Increase Testing and Treatment (ICOMMIITT; Saag). 

Additionally, the MCRC coordinates a strong Scientific Development Program, which promotes the introduction and development of new techniques and nurtures young and new faculty in musculoskeletal disease research through a Nascent Researchers Program, ensures the continued energy and vitality of this MCRC.

Learn how this ties to the CCTS here.    
 

To learn more about the MCRC, click here.
         

dsmCERTS

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) impose a growing societal burden. Although many new therapeutic options are available, questions on effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of care remain unanswered. MSDs exert an especially heavy toll on the elderly and other disadvantaged and underserved subpopulations, including racial/ethnic minorities, children, & persons with co-morbidities. The Deep South Arthritis and Musculoskeletal (dsm) CERTS seeks to:

1)   Improve safety and effectiveness of MSD therapeutics through 4 projects that build on our past work and address the programmatic areas of comparative effectiveness research (CER), tool development, health systems interventions and translating research into practice:

a.   Comparative Effectiveness of NSAIDs vs. Narcotics after Joint Replacement Surgery (w/ FORCE registry & UMass);

b.   A Novel Tool and Multi-Modal Intervention for Improving Osteoporosis Treatment Adherence (w/ Kaiser)

c.   Informed Consent Tools for Pragmatic Clinical Trials in Musculoskeletal Diseases (w/ CMTP & JHU)

d.   Assessing Comparative Effectiveness of Biologics and Communicating Risk in Juvenile and Adult Inflammatory Arthritis (w/ CARRA and Yale)

2)  Educate health care practitioners, patients, caregivers, pavers, and policy makers; and

3)  Develop concept briefs and other nascent research and education ideas into full scale projects and products for dissemination in cooperation with AHRQ, the CERTS Scientific Forum, and our large network of partners.

Learn how this ties to the CCTS here.      
 

To learn more about the dsmCERTS, click here.

CORT

     (P1) The Effects of Urate Lowering Therapy on Inflammation, Endothelial function, and Blood Pressure

     (P2) Determinants of Achieving Target Serum Urate in Gout and Safety of Gout Treatments

     (P3) A Novel Centralized 'Virtual' Gout Clinic for Chronic Gout Management.

Administratively, the UAB CORT aims to foster the development of pilot and feasibility projects and the development and application of new translational methods of research in gout and hyperuricemia; as well as promote the training of clinical investigators in methods of  research applicable to gout and hyperuricemia.

Finally, and most importantly, the mission of our center is to improve the health of patients with gout and hyperuricemia. By applying scientifically rigorous, state-of-the-art methodology to clinically important questions in translational investigation and educating clinical investigators in ways to predict, treat, or prevent gout and hyperuricemia we hope to do just that.

Learn how this ties to the CCTS here.

To learn more about the CORT, click here.

Mucosal HIV & Immunobiology Ctr

The UAB Mucosal HIV and Immunobiology Center supports research on the interaction between microbes and mucosal tissues by integrating the investigative efforts of UAB’s world-class mucosal immunology programs. The Center seeks to speed development of therapies and vaccines for a spectrum of mucosal diseases by facilitating an interdisciplinary environment, uniting investigators in mucosal diseases with those from a wide variety of other disciplines at UAB.  The Center also supports Core resources and expertise, including:

1)      Genetically-Defined Microbe Core;

2)      Molecular Pathology and Human Cell/Tissue Core; and

3)      Gnotobiotic and Genetically-Engineered Mouse Core.

These Cores promote innovative, cutting-edge research in digestive diseases. The principal microbes studied by Center investigators are HIV-1, which enters the host through the gastrointestinal and genital tract mucosae; Helicobacter pylori, the most common cause of gastric inflammatory disease; and the commensal bacteria, which play a critical role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease.

Learn how this ties to the CCTS here.     
 

Clinincal Trials

Arthritis Clinical Intervention Program (ACIP)   

The ACIP is continuously evaluating new therapies for rheumatic diseases including clinical trial therapies for people who have less than optimal responses to conventional therapy. It has conducted over 300 rheumatology trials (Phase I-IV) that have provided significant information to the improvement and advancement within the field of Rheumatology and Immunology.  All our doctors are Board Certified Rheumatologists with many years of research experience.

Mucosal Immunology Clinical Trials       
The UAB Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology is ranked nationally and internationally as a leading center for digestive and liver disorders. UAB continues to lead the advancement of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, having participated in over 60 clinical trials in the past 5 years.  These trials offer the latest in drug therapy and other novel approaches to digestive disorders including inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis) and viral hepatitis.

Osteoporosis Clinical Trials        
The UAB Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment Clinic provides complete, expert care, from clinical and therapeutic services to helpful education and information programs. Specialists in the fields of osteoporosis, nutrition, and physical therapy work collectively to help patients treat existing conditions and prevent further complications with proper medication, diet, and exercise.

ResearchMatch.org       
UAB is participating in ResearchMatch.org, the first national online, volunteer-recruitment registry developed to improve the way biomedical research is conducted across the country. This easy-to-use tool can help match researchers and people who want or need to volunteer for clinical trials. Volunteers are notified electronically that they are a possible match, and then they may decide whether or not to release their contact information to member researchers. Register online at ResearchMatch.org.

Learn how this ties to the CCTS here.     
 

To learn more about the Clinical Trials related to arthritis, musculoskeletal and autoimmune diseases, click here.        

Programs & Centers

Program Project in the Genetics of SLE (Robert P. Kimberly, MD, Director, NIAMS, P01AR49084)
The goal of our Program Project in the Genetics of SLE is to identify the genes responsible for susceptibility to and severity of SLE in ethnic minorities. The investigative team is exploring candidate genes, the role of copy number variation and the genetic contribution to disease severity and outcome over time by continuing to build our longitudinal collaborative cohort (PROFILE) and assessing the impact of genotype on the phenotype of clinical outcomes in SLE.  To implement our scientific strategy, the Program supports four innovative projects.  Each of these Projects is coordinated through an Administrative Core and a rigorous Genetic Epidemiology and Biostatistics Core which serves each project. Working together, the investigators of this P01 anticipate making major advances in our understanding of the genetic variants underlying SLE in ethnic minorities.

To learn more, click here.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Center (Charles O. Elson, III, MD, Casey Weaver, MD, Co-PIs; 5P01DK071176)

The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) involve complex abnormalities in the innate and adaptive immune response to the Intestinal microbiota. Data from experimental models has found that CD4 T cells are the effector cells mediating disease in most instances, that the enteric bacterial flora drives this pathologic response, and that the innate immune system (epithelium, dendritic cells, macrophages) is a critical link between these two elements. Thus, the major focus of this Program Project is on the interaction of the innate and adaptive immune responses with the microbiota and its products and on the genes that affect these interactions through 4 synergistic projects and an Animal Models Core.

To learn more, click here.

Treatment Efficacy and Toxicity in Rheumatoid Arthritis Database and Repository (S. Louis Bridges, Jr., MD, PhD, NIAMS RC2AR058964)
While treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has improved dramatically in the last 10 years, there is a large variability in effectiveness, toxicity and price of therapeutic options.  Dr. Bridges and colleagues have developed the TETRAD initiative as a means to create a cohort with prospectively collected treatment response data coupled with biological samples to enable research to allow improvements in the efficacy and cost-effective use of existing agents in patients with RA. This project has created collaborative network of leading academic investigators which has been collecting treatment response data and biologic samples in RA patients starting MTX or biologic agents.  This proof-of-concept has seeded the creation of a large, sustainable database and repository to better understand the molecular basis of treatment and rapidly accelerate translational research in RA.

To learn more, click here.

Genomics of Lupus (Robert P. Kimberly, MD (site PI); NIAID P01AI083194)
The ability to scan the entire genome provides an unprecedented opportunity for novel discovery of critical pathways in disease pathogenesis. The SLE Genetics Consortium, a productive multi-institutional consortium of lupus investigators, matches the capacity for current state-of-the-art genome-wide technology with large phenotypically characterized participant collections which provide appropriate statistical power for genome-wide studies.  Building on previous success in European-Americans, this project pursues a trans-racial mapping approach which provides a unique opportunity to identify both variants in common and variants which may be population specific. Project 1 explores the HLA region variation in >6000 subjects who are African-American, Amerindian admixed Hispanics, or Asians and grounded at HLA-DRB2 using existing genome data for European-derived subjects. Projects 2-4 explore the whole genome by evaluating 1.8 million markers in 6000 non-European subjects with replication, fine mapping, and trans-racial mapping in 9000 additional subjects. The resulting level of understanding promises to establish the genetic etiology of lupus, spawn new diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics which provide therapeutic benefit to this and many related illnesses.

To learn more, click here. 

Genes and Phenotypes (GAP) studies of Immunologic and Inflammatory Pathways (Robert P. Kimberly, MD (site PI); NIAMS RC2AR059092)
"Genes and Phenotype (GAP)” is a national resource for genotype-phenotype studies of immunologic and inflammatory pathways". In collaboration with the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, we have developed a unique population resource of 4,500 normal subjects who can be characterized genetically and are willing to be repeatedly studied for immunologically related phenotypes. This population resource, the GAP cohort, is available to the scientific community on a national basis. We have formalized and expanded an existing infrastructure for consenting, re-contacting and studying this population. The entire cohort has been characterized for approximately 12,000 SNPs of potential immunological interest. This will permit functional studies of genotype-phenotype correlations in an efficient manner. We have establish "working groups" of scientists with interests in particular aspects of immunobiology to guide the efficient utilization of the resource.

To learn more, click here. 

 To learn more, click here.

Program in Immunology (Harry Schroeder, MD, PhD, David D. Chaplin, MD, PhD, Co-Directors) - This multidisciplinary program consists of over 100 UAB Faculty who identify themselves as basic or clinical immunologists representing multiple Departments and Schools at UAB.  With over $45M in FY 2008 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), the two NIH funding agencies most focused on host defense, immunology, and inflammation research, this represented about 25% of the entire NIH research portfolio at UAB.

 To learn more, click here.