THE ITM INVESTIGATOR
Year in Review Issue I
2013 - 2014
Letter From the Directors Dear investigators and friends of the ITM, Just as we wrapped up another successful grant year, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) released its first annual report in which it highlighted ITM for our collaborative South Side diabetes program led by Monica Peek, MD; Marshall Chin, MD; and Deborah Burnet, MD, in partnership with the Merck Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, and others. We’re proud to be recognized on the national stage. But we have far more work to do. For example, consider the following related to drug development: • For every 5,000 to 10,000 compounds that enter the development pipeline, only one makes it into the nation’s medicine chest. • Many thousands of diseases plague our patients. However, only about 500 have any treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration. • It takes about 14 years to go from discovering a therapeutic target to getting approval for a new drug. • More than 95 percent of the above projects fail. • It can cost $2 billion or more to create an approved, successful treatment. NCATS director, Christopher P. Austin, MD, said he views the CTSA Consortium’s mission in terms of the “3-Ds.” “Develop new approaches, technologies, resources and models; demonstrate their usefulness; and proactively disseminate the data, analysis and methodologies so that other scientists can implement them,” Austin wrote in the report. That’s what we’re doing at the ITM to change some of those statistics and convert biomedical research into health improvement. In this inaugural Year in Review, you’ll see how ITM investigators are developing ways to prevent transplant recipients’ bodies from rejecting their new organs, learn how our investigator’s innovative violence intervention models are impacting Chicago, and read how an investigator’s program that disseminates the latest life-saving treatment methods to urban communities has grown to encompass groups across the Chicagoland region – and more. And as we all work to make this next grant year even stronger than the last, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the ITM team members for information about our funding, education, and research resources. We’re here to help you make discoveries and apply those findings in cutting-edge ways. As British mathematician and science philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once said, “Ideas won’t keep. Something must be done about them.” Keep exploring,
Julian Solway, MD & ITM Director
Lainie Ross, MD, PhD ITM Co-Director ITM Director Julian Solway (L), NCATS Director Christopher P. Austin (C), and ITM Co-Director Lainie Ross (R), meet in Washington, D.C., in July.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Researchers collect samples at UChicago laboratories. Photo by Sara Serritella.
Medical images are just one of many things being analyzed at UChicago labs like those of ITM investigator and medical physicist Maryellen Giger, PhD. Photo by Sara Serritella.
ITM investigators gather to discuss the latest in 3-D printing from NorthShore University HealthSystem in June. Photo by Sara Serritella.
LETTER FROM THE DIRECTORS..............................................................................................2 ITM PILOT AWARDS.....................................................................................................................4 ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES................................................................................................5 Piotr Witkowski: Working to cure autoimmune diseases and organ transplant rejection.............................................5 Jared Greenberg: Immune dysfunction as risk factor for long-term mortality from Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia..........6 Harold Pollack: UChicago Crime Lab reduces youth violence and secures millions in funding....................................7 Daniel Johnson: ECHO-Chicago expands geographic reach and training opportunities............................................9 NEW ITM AWARDEES.................................................................................................................11 New Pilot Awardee Spotlight....................................................................................................................12 Thank You to Reviewers............................................................................................................................13 ITM INVESTIGATORS MAKING HEADLINES.........................................................................14 CLUSTER NEWS...........................................................................................................................16 Biomedical Informatics.................................................................................................17 Clinical Resources.......................................................................................................18 Clinical Trials.............................................................................................................19 Population Sciences.....................................................................................................19 Education.................................................................................................................20 Community..............................................................................................................22 ITM LEADERSHIP NEWS...........................................................................................................24 ITM EVOLUTION........................................................................................................................26 INNOVATION ON CAMPUS......................................................................................................27 ITM INVESTIGATOR PUBLICATIONS.....................................................................................29 LOOKING AHEAD.......................................................................................................................31
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ITM PILOT AWARDS
ITM AWARDS MORE THAN $650,000 IN PILOT FUNDING IN 2013 - 2014
The ITM gave $681,763 in Pilot Award funding to more than a dozen investigators in the last fiscal year, which ran from July 2013 to July 2014.
and allow trainees or researchers to generate preliminary data critical to securing subsequent funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other organizations.
Awards (CTSA) consortium that helps convert biomedical research into health improvement.
The ITM’s Pilot Award Program awards investigators seed funding four times a year for promising translational and clinical research projects.
The ITM also supports projects that will stimulate community-engaged research and improve clinical design, biostatistics, ethics, informatics, or regulatory pathways.
During the last eight years, the ITM has connected more than 1,800 investigators with funding, training, and other resources while forging connections across departments, universities, and patient advocacy groups.
This program supports projects that promote early career development
The ITM is a member of the NIH Clinical and Translational Science
Between 2008 and 2011 alone, the ITM awarded 60 Pilot Award grants
totaling more than $2.75 million. Since 2007, total funding for the ITM exceeds $50 million from the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) CTSA grant numbers UL1 TR000430, KL2 TR000431, and TL1 TR000432, and from the University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences. Learn more by visiting itm.uchicago.edu.
ITM LAUNCHES NEW PILOT FUNDING MECHANISM FOR TECHNOLOGY & COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT This past fiscal year the ITM launched a new Pilot Award in partnership with UChicagoTech to provide up to $40,000 to research projects that could lead to commercialization.
DON’T MISS UPCOMING ITM FUNDING DEADLINES
Submitting an application is a win-win situation for investigators, who have the benefit of receiving detailed feedback from both internal academic reviewers and external reviewers, such as entrepreneurs, representatives from pharmaceutical companies, venture capitalists, and others.
PILOT AWARDS: Up to $40,000 October 15 January 15
Applications are evaluated based on: • The novelty, innovation, and multidisciplinary aspects of the project. • The likelihood the proposal will result in future outside funding or a partnership with a commercial organization. • The potential the proposed research has for impacting the diagnosis or treatment of human disease. Awardees may be assigned one or two industry members to provide ongoing consultation.
“This is a unique mechanism to support early translational research “We’re not just pushing the science that’s leading towards a developforward, but we’re also making sure ment of a product or service,” said the technology is advancing toward Heather Walsh, assistant director the marketplace,” Walsh said. of UChicagoTech. “It’s designed for investigators to get that vital The first recipient will be external feedback earlier in the proannounced soon, and the next cess so they can focus on the right deadline for applications is Oct. 15. experiments.” Visit ITM’s website for details or reach Heather Walsh at hwalsh@tech.uchicago.edu.
CORE SUBSIDIES: Up to $5,000 Rolling COMMUNITY MINI-AWARDS: Up to $5,000 Rolling 4
ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES
INVESTIGATOR WORKING TO CURE AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES & END ORGAN TRANSPLANT REJECTION “We need to show those agencies that we are capable of manufacturing those cells in a safe and reproducible way, meeting all their standards,” said Witkowski, who is also the director of the University of Chicago Medicine’s Pancreatic and Islet Transplant Program. “It’s a long process to get the approval.”
(L - R): Piotr Witkowski, MD, PhD; Karolina Golab, MS, PhD student, Treg project specialist; Sabarinathan Ramachandran, PhD, director of the islet isolation laboratories; Zehra Tekin, MD, postdoctoral research scholar; Omid Savari, MD, postdoctoral research scholar; Randall Grose, PhD, Treg project specialist; Paulina Langa, MS, visiting PhD student from the lab of Piotr Trzonkowski, MD, PhD, overseas. Photo by Sara Serritella.
By Sara Serritella Between 14 to 22 million people in the United States suffer from autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with the medical cost of treating type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis alone topping more than $7 billion each year. But with the help of an ITM Pilot Award, Piotr Witkowski, MD, PhD, is one step closer to curing those conditions – and ending the body’s rejection of organ transplants. In November 2010, Witkowski and his team initiated the development and optimization of expanding the number of regulatory T cells (Tregs) outside the body in his laboratory. Tregs are cells that hold the immune system in balance, preventing
autoimmune diseases and the body from rejecting organ transplants. As part of this ex-vivo process, he collects the blood, separates the white blood cells through leukapheresis and grows the number of Tregs to 1,000 times the sample size in his laboratory. “Those cells have great potential,” Witkowski said. “Once the production of the Tregs is optimized and they’re available for clinical application, we can test it for different autoimmune diseases. So this is a big window of opportunity.”
One of Witkowski’s collaborators in Europe, Piotr Trzonkowski, MD, PhD, of the Medical University of Gdansk, implemented the world’s first successful human therapy based on ex-vivo Treg cell expansion. The duo is also working with Jeffrey Bluestone, PhD, a well-recognized immunologist and Treg leader who is also the executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Bluestone, who previously served as the director of the University of Chicago’s Ben May Department for Cancer Research, recently completed a Phase 1 clinical trial using Treg expansion technology in patients with new-onset diabetes using Treg expansion technology. While they are all collaborating, each of them developed slightly different Treg processing procedures looking for optimal conditions to achieve the same end product: pure and stable Treg cells in sufficient numbers.
His goal is to use the data gathered from the ITM Pilot Project to gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Institutional Review Board (IRB) so they can collect Tregs, expand them in his laboratory setting, and transfer those multiplied Tregs into the patients they originated from as one of the first U.S. clinical trials of its kind.
For example, Witkowski’s 5
team uses leukapheresis to acquire Tregs from patients’ blood at the sampling stage, whereas Trzonkowski and Bluestone collect 500 milliliters of blood per patient and isolate the Tregs afterwards. “Although it’s optimized, the whole process is not stable because it’s based on the way the cells grow outside the body, in artificial conditions,” he said. “Cells are like human bodies: Sometimes they respond, sometimes they don’t respond…We are starting with higher numbers at the beginning, so we could get more consistent results.” And the extent of the expansion matters because of the different applications. Witkowski’s collaborators are focusing on patients who were recently diagnosed with diabetes and still have some healthy groups of cells, known as islets, that are producing insulin. Their goal is to protect those remaining healthy islets from complete destruction by infusing ...Continued on page 6.
Members of Witkowski’s lab are trying to cure autoimmune diseases. Photo by Sara Serritella.
ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES ...Continued from page 5.
patients with their own Tregs that were expanded in the laboratory. In contrast, Witkowski is planning to use Tregs to protect transplanted pancreatic islets. He retrieves those islets from a deceased donor’s pancreas and transplants them into “brittle” type 1 diabetic patients whose own islets vanished years ago from the disease. Islet transplantation is a new, alternative procedure to transplanting the whole pancreas. “Instead of a big operation with a high rate of complications, we’re giving patients a similar outcome just by infusing those islets into the bloodstream as a minimally invasive procedure,” Witkowski said. And his patients’ lives have been changed, allowing most of them much better control over their blood glucose levels - and at least half go off insulin injections within five years.
But the doctors still have to use the same immunosuppressant medications normally prescribed after whole organ transplantation to protect the donor islets from being rejected, Witkowski said. So the Tregs and their immunoprotective ability could act as an effective, less toxic alternative because the expanded cells would originate from the bloodstream of the patient. Witkowski said the ITM Pilot Award was one of many necessary pieces that came together to help him apply for the next research stage, as the testing and certification behind clinical grade reagents makes them far more expensive than basic research reagents. His team is currently generating its data and will be applying for approval for clinical trials from the FDA this year.
Witkowski’s research team meets in his laboratory. Photo by Sara Serritella.
could proceed and get to the point where I am now.”
Grant, NP; and a team of nurses from the ITM’s Clinical Research Center (CRC), has been optimizing islet transplantation procedures that Witkowski said he is looking forward to combining with the new Treg therapy.
Witkowski, together with a team of diabetologists that include: Louis Philipson, MD, PhD, and director of the University of Chicago Kovler Diabetes Center; Silvana Pannain, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine; Colleen Flynn, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine; Tiffany
“It takes time and money to implement the technology and optimize the production,” Witkowski said. “And thanks to ITM’s support, I
Reach Piotr Witkowski at pwitkowski@surgery.bsd.uchicago.
FELLOW IDENTIFIES IMMUNE DYSFUNCTION AS A RISK FACTOR FOR LONG-TERM MORTALITY FROM STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS BACTEREMIA By Sara Serritella Each year more than 650,000 U.S. patients are affected by severe sepsis, a process by which an infection leads to deregulated inflammation throughout the entire body. About 20 percent of these patients - more than 120,000 - die in the hospital. Among those who survive the initial hospitalization, about 25 percent die within the following year. ITM awarded Jared Greenberg, a University of Chicago Medicine Fellow in the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, a Pilot Award to investigate the types of pa-
tients who are at the highest risk for long-term mortality after sepsis.
bacteremia at the University of Chicago hospital and found that clinical immunosuppression prior to infection was a risk factor for 31- to 90-day mortality, but not 30-day mortality. He is now using the ITM Pilot award to measure immune markers among a group of prospectively enrolled patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.
“We’re trying to figure out why people who survive a severe infection have a higher mortality than their counterparts,” Greenberg said. “While there are algorithms to treat sepsis in the first 24 hours, there is really no way to identify people who are going to have complications afterward.”
“I’m hoping to be able to use clinical and biochemical factors to risk stratify patients who survive an infectious process,” Greenberg said. “Clinicians could use this information to have heightened vigilance for clinical changes among patients with a high risk for poor outcomes.
Greenberg chose to focus on Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia because it is a common infection that typically causes a systemic inflammatory response. He initially reviewed 237 patients with Staphylococcus aureus 6
Jared Greenberg, MD. Photo provided.
Additionally, clinical trials for patients with sepsis may have greater chance of success if they only enroll high-risk patients.” Greenberg became interested in the immunosuppressed population during his residency at Emory University in Atlanta, a region where there was a large population of people infected with HIV. ...Continued on page 7.
ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES ...Continued from page 6.
“I found it really interesting that when patients with HIV would come to the Intensive Care Unit, they would often be sick with infections associated with prolonged healthcare exposure instead of unusual, opportunistic infections,” he said.
Greenberg was the first author on a paper highlighting his Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia findings that was published in February 2014 by the Public Library of Science (PLoS One).
in July and plans to work on a K23 grant application. “It’s going to be very important when I apply for my K Award to have this preliminary data,” Greenberg said.
He said he returned to clinical work
“Without the ITM Pilot Award money, it would be difficult to do this initial research.” Connect with Jared Greenberg at Jared.Greenberg@uchospitals.edu.
UCHICAGO CRIME LAB REDUCES YOUTH VIOLENCE & SECURES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN FUNDING By Sara Serritella
“If kids don’t stay engaged, they have a high probability of dropping The University of Chicago Crime out, and once they drop out they Lab has been busy since receiving have a high probability of being its ITM Pilot Award in 2012, either victims or perpetrators of evaluating strategies to reduce youth crime,” said Harold Pollack, PhD, violence in Chicago and receiving co-director of the Crime Lab and a combined $7 million from the associate director of the ITM. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the John D. and Catherine T. “The kids have to be tough. They MacArthur Foundation. don’t have a lot of margin for error, academically or in many other areas That work is addressing a huge in their lives, and so we want to give problem. Between September 2008 them a realistic way to follow a road and April 2010, more than 610 map.” Chicago Public School students were shot. Only about half of high That “road map” took the form school students in major cities grad- of targeted interventions over the uate, and by the time many of those course of six months for 106 male children reach high school they can 9th and 10th graders on Chicago’s be up to seven grade levels behind South Side - and it led to a decrease in subjects like math. in school misconduct, course failures, absenteeism and violent crime.
Harold Pollack, PhD, co-director of the UChicago Crime Lab and associate director of the ITM. Photo by Kyle Zimmerman.
Students’ math scores also improved by the equivalent of about three years’-worth of learning. The interventions involved a twopronged approach. The non-academic prong was the Becoming a Man (BAM) program, developed and implemented by Chicago nonprofit Youth Guidance, which focuses on social-cognitive skills and is based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). BAM also included an after-school sports program, offered in partnership with nonprofit World Sport Chicago. Pollack said the ITM’s funding
Students participate in a deep breathing exercise as they learn about self-control and relaxing during their weekly BAM session at a Chicago Public School. Photo by Robert Kozloff/University of Chicago.
helped the Crime Lab quickly add the second prong – an intensive math tutoring component based on the model of Boston’s Match Education. “The ITM Pilot funding really allowed us to take that next step to see what we could get by including this tutoring,” Pollack said. “What we found were very significant benefits to the pilot intervention and dramatic improvement in kids’ school performance, which provided the basis for an NIH grant. This grant will support the expansion of the BAM and Match programs as well as our current larger-scale study of these programs, in turn growing ...Continued on page 8.
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ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES ...Continued from page 7.
the impact of this work to benefit not only Chicago but also other cities as well.”
unique is that it is evaluating its interventions using the same rigorous methods applied to clinical trials in medical research. And the data speaks for itself.
WATCH THE VIDEO Hear about the impact the University of Chicago Crime Lab is having in the words of the student participants and tutors by watching this video.
The P01 grant from the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human The interventions increased expectDevelopment awarded the Crime ed graduation rates by about 50 Lab $6 million and Chicago Public percent, decreased course failures Schools provided the BAM and Match programs with $4 million. The Crime Lab also earned $1 million as one of seven nonprofits worldwide recognized with a 2014 MacArthur Award for - Harold Pollack, PhD Creative and Effective Institutions. by about 60 percent and resulted in about 2.5 more weeks of school What makes the Crime Lab’s work attended per year – all of which
researchers said would have an impact on violence. Based on an almost 70 percent reduction in school misconduct in a comparative trial, researchers predict a decrease in violent crime arrests over the next two years by an estimated 50 to 60 percent and a drop in drug-related arrests by about 40 to 50 percent.
“The kids have to be tough. They don’t have a lot of margin for error, academically or in many other areas in their lives, and so we want to give them a realistic way to follow a road map.”
“We got a lot of attention for the results that we achieved with our pilot, and that was something the ITM really helped make possible,” Pollack said,
with publications like The New York Times covering the project and U.S. and international agencies reaching out to collaborate. While the research team got a lot of credit for the data, Pollack said there were many other people involved in the schools who changed the students’ lives. “Our partners just did an amazing job implementing the intervention,” Pollack said. “They deserve to see the value of their work noted.” Those collaborators included the Crime Lab’s multidisciplinary team of economists, public health researchers, psychologists and education experts, along with Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Police Department, the City of Chicago and nonprofit partners Match Education and Youth Guidance. The results of the 2012-2013 study were published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in January 2014, and the Crime Lab is currently running a large-scale study based on the pilot in 21 Chicago Public Schools. “The most important thing for people to note is that we have effective interventions that can help,” Pollack said. “No one of these interventions is going to be the polio vaccine that’s going to end youth violence. But if we methodically pursue evidence-informed interventions, we can really make a difference for kids in Chicago and in every other city across the United States.”
A BAM counselor congratulates students and hands out T-shirts as they pass the halfway mark in the program. Photo by Robert Kozloff/University of Chicago.
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Reach Harold Pollack at haroldp@uchicago.edu.
ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES
ECHO-CHICAGO EXPANDS ITS GEOGRAPHIC REACH & TRAINING OFFERINGS for new knowledge to trickle out. We’re able to reduce that time by bringing state-of-theart care to community providers at the speed of light.” ECHO stands for Extension of Community Healthcare Outcomes, and its goal is to provide innovative medical training using videoconferencing technology to break down the divisions between primary and specialty care. Andrew Aronsohn, MD, (L) leads an ECHO-Chicago telehealth session about hepatitis C with transplant pharmacist Lindsey Pote, PharmD, BCPS (R). Photo by Sara Serritella.
By Sara Serritella Patients who receive care at community health centers often have limited access to subspecialists, research shows, and ITM Pilot
awardee ECHO-Chicago is changing that by expanding what started as medical training for six federally qualified health centers on Chicago’s South Side to working with 22 different organizations across Chicagoland.
Daniel Johnson, MD, is the principal investigator for ECHO-Chicago. Photo by UChicago Medicine.
The first ECHO project was born at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, and ECHO-Chicago is one of 39 tele-
practice nurses, and social workers. And its educational offerings have expanded from three to five subjects taught over 12 sessions. Those subjects now cover resistant hypertension, pediatric ADHD, risk-based approach to women’s health, hepatitis C, and pediatric obesity and comorbidities. Finicia Graham, MD, practices family medicine at Beloved Community Family Wellness Center in Robbins, IL, and has participated in more than 30 ECHO-Chicago sessions. “ECHO has been an invaluable resource for me, as it has provided a link to experts in the field and a chance to discuss common clinical questions with colleagues,” Graham said.
“It normally takes years for new knowledge to trickle out. We’re... bringing state-of-the-art care to community providers at the speed of light.”
“We’re translating the changes in medicine more rapidly out to community providers,” said Daniel Johnson, MD, the principal investigator for ECHO-Chicago, associate professor of pediatrics and chief of the Section of Academic Pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medicine. “It normally takes years
- Daniel Johnson, MD ECHO hubs that run in 22 states and six countries. But Chicago’s project is the first one to apply the model to an urban setting and continues to be the most successful urban ECHO. Over the past five years ECHO-Chicago has trained more than 250 providers, which includes physicians, advanced
And that’s part of the beauty of the ECHO model, according to Johnson. “It gets people talking,” he said. “Because you’re in a virtual conference room, it gives you the ability to look at people. When you can look at people, you can read body language. When you can read body language, you’re more likely to speak. The person becomes more ...Continued on page 10.
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ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES A GOOD THING GROWS Since the ITM awarded Daniel Johnson a Pilot Award for ECHO-Chicago in 2012, the program has grown to secure more than 17 times that funding for a total of more than $876,000 in support from the following organizations: • • • • • • • •
Grant Healthcare Foundation Lloyd A. Fry Foundation Baxter International Foundation VNA Foundation Aetna Foundation Illinois Department of Public Health American Cancer Society – Illinois Division Northern Trust Charitable Trust
ECHO-Chicago brings top training to urban providers using videoconferencing. Photo by Sara Serritella. ...Continued from page 9.
familiar to you and it provides a real opportunity for working together.” The ITM attended a recent session on hepatitis C, where about six medical providers from the Chicagoland region listened to a presentation on new treatment methods from UChicago Medicine’s Andrew Aronsohn, MD, an assistant professor, gastroenterologist and hepatologist. Then they discussed the best ways to apply that new information to treat specific patients. “Empowering primary care doctors to be able to treat something like
hepatitis C, which is very prevalent in the United States and is going to be better treated in a primary care setting, is going to make a huge impact on treating the disease,” Aronsohn said at the end of the session.
UChicago’s program now has a waitlist of providers who would like to join in the telehealth sessions, which are limited to less than 10 sites at a time – and it will be covering even more topics next year. ECHO-Chicago just came to an agreement with the American Academy of Pediatrics to launch a program focused on pediatric seizures, and there are plans to start another addressing the best ways to integrate mental health care into the normal stream of health center activities.
Researchers are already seeing those results. According to a 2011 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, ECHO has enabled community primary care providers to offer chronic disease care at almost the same level as university-based subspecialists.
Johnson said the ECHO-Chicago would not be where it is today without the early financial support it received from the ITM’s Pilot Award. “The funding was spectacular,” Johnson said. “It helped us to underwrite infrastructure so that we could reach more providers.” To get involved with ECHO-Chicago, contact Daniel Johnson at djohnson@peds.bsd.uchicago.
LOOKING AHEAD ECHO-Chicago is in the process of analyzing millions of electronic records it has obtained through a partnership with Illinois’ Healthcare and Family Services (HSF), which administers Medicaid. Its goal is to analyze the prescribing habits of providers who have gone through ECHO-Chicago training and compare them to those who have yet to go through it – in turn, measuring the outcome it has on patients directly. Additionally, the program submitted a grant application to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for about $7 million to make use of the ECHO-Chicago structure and develop a surveillance mechanism for identifying and tracking the outcomes of Chicagoland patients with hepatitis C. It also helped organize MetaECHO, the first international ECHO conference that took place Sept. 11 - 13 in New Mexico.
ECHO-Chicago’s program now has a waitlist of providers who want to join in the telehealth sessions. Photo by Sara Serritella.
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NEW ITM AWARDEES
ITM CONGRATULATES ITS AWARDEES JULY 2013 - JULY 2014 Pilot Awards Investigator
Project Title
Investigator
Project Title
Konstantin G. Birukov, MD, PhD
Discovery of a Novel Class of Synthetic Phospholipids for Treatment of Acute Lung Injury
Kate Keenan, PhD
Depression Prevention Effects on Neural Processing of Emotion and Reward Stimuli
Conceptualizing the Full-Spectrum Doula Model
Dorit Koren, MD
Sleep Habits in Adolescents and Type 2 Diabetes Risk
Neurobehavioral Correlates of Central Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines in Human Aggression
Yanchun Li, PhD
Vitamin D Regulation of Systemic Inflammation in Mice and Humans
Tina N. Drossos, PhD
Emotional Intelligence and Regulation in Patients with T-2 Diabetes
Jeremy Marks, MD, PhD
Defining Characteristics of Epileptic Human Cortex
Nickolai Dulin, PhD
Regulation of Myofibroblast Differentiation and Pulmonary Fibrosis by Cardiotonic Steroid, Digoxin
Patrick Singleton, PhD
Peripheral MOR Antagonism as a Potential Therapeutic Strategy for Lung Cancer
Andrea B. Goldschmidt, PhD
Executive Function in Overweight Children at Risk for Eating Disorders
Bret Ulery, PhD
Mixed Antigen/Adjuvant Micelles for Single Administration Streptococcus Vaccination
Christopher Gomez, MD
Screening for Small Molecule Inhibitors of a Novel Pathogenic Cistron to Treat SCA6 Ataxia
Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD
Automated Scoring of MIBG Scans for Patients with Neuroblastoma
Nicholas Hatsopoulos, PhD and Derek Kamper, PhD
Incorporation of Natural Censory Feedback to Improve Control of a Crain-Cachine Interface for Grasp
Amittha Wickrema, PhD
Mobilization of Chemokine Receptor CXCR4-Expressing Erythroid Progenitors in Blood
Julie Chor, MD Emil F. Coccaro, MD
SPIRiT Awards Theodore Karrison, PhD
Imaging and Inflammatory Biomarkers in Anti-Retroviral Neuro-Intensification
K Appointees CTSA
Oncology
Oncology
Oncology
Lea K. Davis, PhD
Manish Sharma, MD
Hongtao Liu, MD, PhD
Swati Kulkarni, MD
Vladimir Liarski, MD
Jane Churpek, MD
Hae Kyung Im, PhD
Tatyana Grushko, PhD
Julie Chor, MD
Linda Patrick-Miller, PhD
Daniel Catenacci, MD
LungOmics
Andrea G. Goldschmidt, PhD
Raymon Grogan, MD
Gabrielle Lapping-Carr, MD
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NEW ITM AWARDEES NEW PILOT SPOTLIGHTS:
ANDREA G. GOLDSCHMIDT NICKOLAI DULIN
Andrea G. Goldschmidt, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience and Co-Director of the Eating Disorders Program. Photo provided.
Nickolai Dulin, PhD, Associate Professor, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Photo provided.
Project Title: Executive function in overweight children at risk for eating disorders.
Project Title: Regulation of myofibroblast differentiation and pulmonary fibrosis by cardiotonic steroid, digoxin.
Pilot Project Goals: About 30 percent of weight loss treatment-seeking children also report binge eating. The project sets the stage for understanding the mechanisms behind the binge eating so that effective interventions can be developed.
Pilot Project Goals: There are no drugs currently available to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a deadly disease characterized by a progressive scarring of the lung tissue.
No one has really looked at these children’s brains while they lose control, Goldschmidt said, so the project uses functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to see what is going on when they do.
“People breathe air, but their lungs cannot exchange the oxygen, and this worsens with time. From the time of diagnosis, they have about two to three years to live, so it’s a bad one. We’re trying to understand the mechanism of the disease, and through this find something that could at least prolong their lives.”
“We have such a poor understanding of the mechanisms involved in binge eating with kids right now that it’s almost like developing interventions would be putting the cart before the horse….That’s where the cognitive piece comes in, because inhibitory control is one factor that seems to go awry in these kids and could lead to binge eating. They just can’t stop themselves from eating, even when they don’t want to be eating.”
Pilot Award Path: About two years ago, Dulin made an observation that differentiation of myofibroblasts, the pathologic cells driving pulmonary fibrosis, was blocked by cardiac glycosides, including digoxin - the FDA-approved drug for treating heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias. He translated this observation into his current Pilot Award project: testing whether digoxin can also be used to treat pulmonary fibrosis. Dulin is working with cultured human lung fibroblasts and with mouse models of pulmonary fibrosis that the ITM funding supports. In preliminary experiments he found that digoxin administered at lower therapeutic dose levels drastically reduced pulmonary fibrosis in the mouse models.
ITM Impact: K Scholar Goldschmidt received a Pilot Award shortly after becoming part of the K12 program. She said it jump-started her career by increasing her knowledge in cognitive neuroscience, an area in which she had no prior training, and giving her dedicated time for research and networking with important faculty members in her field.
“We aim to establish the protective effect of digoxin and to understand the mechanism by which it works. The first part is clinically relevant, the second is scientifically relevant. But once we know the mechanisms, we can think of maybe even better drugs that work the same way.”
“The K12 is the training piece and the Pilot Award is the implementation piece... It’s great that these funds are available, especially to junior investigators, because it is so hard and such a long process to get NIH funding – and you often need preliminary data to put in your grant application.”
Pilot Project Traction: Dulin applied for an NIH R01 grant in June, 2014, and plans to submit his first manuscript on this subject in September or October 2014.
K Scholar Traction: Goldschmidt has already been first author on three articles published while funded by the K12 program: Latent Profile Analysis of Eating Episodes in Anorexia Nervosa, Predictors of Child Weight Loss and Maintenance Among Family-Based Treatment Completers, and Ecological Momentary Assessment of Eating Episodes in Obese Adults. She also applied for an NIH K Award in June. Collaborate with Andrea Goldschmidt by e-mailing her at agoldscm@bsd.uchicago.edu.
“The ITM funding is a huge help, especially with the limited funding from the NIH nowadays. And the ITM reviewers’ comments were very helpful, not only to improve this study but also to prepare for a more expanded R01 application.” Collaborate with Nickolai Dulin by e-mailing him at ndulin@medicine.uchicago.edu. 12
ISAP COMMITTEE MEMBERS & AD-HOC REVIEWERS
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR SCIENTIFIC REVIEWERS JULY 2013 - JULY 2014
We would not be able to support the more than 1,500 investigators who have utilized the ITM’s resources this past year without the prestigious members of the ITM Internal Scientific Advisory Panel (ISAP) review committee and our ad-hoc reviewers who evaluated almost 200 submissions. You have directly impacted vital research and countless careers by sharing your time and insights. Atique Ahmed, PhD Marisa Alegre, MD, PhD John C. Alverdy, MD Gary An, MD Vineet Arora, MD Issam Awad, MD Arshiya Baig, MD Cornelia Bailey, MS Yamini Bakhtiar, MD Lev Becker, PhD Graeme Bell, PhD Eric Beyer, MD, PhD Michael Bishop, MD Marc Bissonnette, MD Matthew Brady, PhD Martin Burke, DO Deborah Burnet, MD Daniel Catenacci, MD Chin-Tu Chen, PhD Marshall Chin, MD Anita Chong, PhD Emil Coccaro, MD Ronald Cohen, MD Susan Cohn. MD Joel Collier, PhD Philip Connell, MD Nancy Cox, PhD Sean Crosson, PhD John Cunningham, MD Farr Curlin, MD Juan de Pablo, PhD Harriet de Wit, PhD Douglas Dirschl, MD Nickolai Dulin, PhD Stephanie Dulawa, PhD Yun Fang, PhD Gini Fleming, MD Aaron Fox, PhD H. Barrett Fromme, MD Elliot Gershon, MD Maryellen Giger, PhD Catherine Glunz, MD Lucy Godley, MD Christopher Gomez, MD
Jon Grant, MD, JD Mark Musch, PhD Siri Greeley, MD, PhD Cathryn Nagler, PhD Sandeep Gurbuxani, MD, PhD Yusuke Nakamura, MD, PhD Christian Hansel, PhD Jayasri Nanduri, PhD Tong-Chuan He, MD, PhD Marcelo Nobrega, MD, PhD Gavin Hougham, PhD Olatoyosi Odenike, MD Marion Hofmann-Bowman, MD, PhD Aytekin Oto, MD Elbert Huang, MD Linda Patrick-Miller, PhD R. Stephanie Huang PhD Jayant Pinto, MD Bana Jabri, MD, PhD Harold Pollack, PhD Daniel Johnson, MD Victoria Prince, PhD Loren Joseph, MD Milda Saunders, MD Theodore Karrison, PhD Nancy Schwartz, PhD Kate Keenan, PhD Madeleine Shalowitz, MD Karen Kim, MD Manish Sharma, MD Andrea King, PhD Howard Shuman, PhD Kristen Knutson, PhD Patrick Singleton, PhD Jay Koyner, MD Sangram Sisodia, PhD Stephen Kron, MD Keyoumars Soltani, MD Sonia Kupfer, MD Julian Solway, MD John H. Kwon, MD, PhD Anne Sperling, PhD James LaBelle, MD, PhD Samuel Refetoff, MD Benjamin Lahey, PhD Carrie Rinker-Schaeffer, PhD Roberto Lang, MD Connie Robinson, RN Raphael Lee, MD Lainie Ross, MD, PhD Younghee Lee, PhD Gregory Ruhnke, MD Ernst Lengyel, MD, PhD Andrey Rzhetsky, PhD Stacy Lindau, MD Vera Tesic, MD James Liao, MD Gopal Thinakaran, PhD Elizabeth Littlejohn, MD Michael Thirman, MD Hongtao Liu, MD Matthew Tirrell, PhD Hue Luu, MD F. Gary Toback, MD, PhD Kay Macleod, PhD Vincent Turitto, PhD Tom MacTavish, MS Wim van Drongelen, PhD Michael Maitland, MD, PhD Michael Vannier, MD Jeremy Marks, MD, PhD Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD Christopher Masi, MD R. Parker Ward, MD Karl Matlin, PhD Juliane Bubeck-Wardenburg, MD, PhD David McClintock, MD Sydeaka Watson, PhD Daniel McGehee, PhD Steven White, MD David Meltzer, MD, PhD Amittha Wickrema, PhD Doriane Miller, MD Kristen Wroblewski, MS Steven Montner, MD Xiaoyan Wu, MD, PhD Martha Clare Morris, ScD Ming Xu, PhD Xiaoxi Zhuang, PhD 13
ITM INVESTIGATORS MAKING HEADLINES
ITM CO-DIRECTOR AWARDED PROMINENT FELLOWSHIP co-director, a pediatrician and an associate director of the University of Chicago Medicine’s MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics - has received numerous recognitions and published more than 200 papers in scholarly journals in addition to authoring three books.
designing policies to achieve one goal and not realizing the other repercussions that occur,” Ross said. “We often think about the direct effects, and this is all about the indirect effects.”
For example, Ross described the aftermath of a freshman Rice University football player’s death. In 2006, the young player fell unconscious during training and died the next day from issues connected with sickle cell trait. Individuals who are “carriers” of the trait have one copy of the sickle cell mutation, which Ross said is known to increase the risk of exertional heat illness and sudden death in athletes.
She said this award was particularly special. “My two mentors - basically the two people who shaped my Lainie Ross, MD, PhD, was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim thinking about mediFellowship in April. Photo provided. cal ethics - were Paul Ramsey, who was a Christian theologian at PrincBy Sara Serritella eton, and Jay Katz, who was a The John Simon Guggenheim Mepsychiatrist who morial Foundation named Lainie worked at Yale Ross, MD, PhD, as one of its 2014 Law School, and fellows in April. both of them were former “Lainie is one of our most excepGuggenheim tional scholars, and I’m delighted (recipients),” that she has earned this fitting recshe said. “So that was really very ognition of her incredibly importheartwarming for me.” ant work,” said Julian Solway, MD, director of the Institute for TransStarting in September, Ross will lational Medicine (ITM) and BSD use the yearlong fellowship to write dean for translational medicine. a book examining the unexpected impacts of genetic policies. She said Only 177 Fellowships were awarded she’ll be traveling across the U.S. out of almost 3,000 applicants, and around the world to examine and Ross was the only applicant cutting-edge programs and study honored for medicine and health. the impact of genetic policies on Sen. Simon Guggenheim started various communities in order to the Foundation in 1925 in memory find diverse case studies for what of his deceased son, and each year will be titled, “From Peapods to it recognizes exceptional artists, Whole Genomes: Incidental Findscholars and scientists with funding ings and Unintended Consequences for their work. in a Post-Mendelian World.”
His parents sued the NCAA, and as part of a settlement a rule was enacted to test all college athletes for the sickle cell trait.
In the 1980s the Army evaluated a different approach to reduce exertional heat illness by modifying training for everyone – regardless of whether they possessed the trait – to a safer, standard training using the wet-bulb globe temperature measurement to evaluate heat stress during workouts. This prevented exertional heat illness in all of the trainees, not just those at greater risk. And Ross said it did so without having to screen and label any trainees as “genetically different.” “We have to make sure that our policies are fair and that they protect people in all communities,” Ross said. “There are just a lot of unintended consequences in some of our policies…the goal of the book is to help us make the policy implications more transparent in order to make better policy.” And as a matter of personal policy, the first thing Ross did after the official Guggenheim Fellowship announcement went out was to send thank you notes to the four people who wrote the foundation letters on her behalf for her application.
“We have to make sure that our policies are fair and that they protect people in all communities.”
While Ross - who is the ITM’s
- Lainie Ross, MD, PhD
Ross said some schools may respond to the policies by developing a more gradual preseason training program for those with the trait – which would put them at a disadvantage when it came time to physically evaluate and cut players. “Eight percent of all African American athletes have sickle cell trait, and death from exertional heat illness occurs in less than one athlete annually,” Ross said. “So many athletes would do fine without the special treatment. One could say the policy may be over-determined. Alternatively, the Army took the approach that it was under-determined.”
“It’s looking at how we might be 14
“I told them to read the New York Times,” Ross said with a smile. Ross said she’ll also always remember her two mentors who helped get her there. “They actually changed my whole career path,” she said about Katz and Ramsey. “I had dreamed of being the orthopaedic surgeon for the New York Yankees…Now I get to follow in their footsteps.” Reach Lainie Ross at lross@uchicago.edu.
ITM INVESTIGATORS MAKING HEADLINES
John C. Alverdy, MD
Suzanne D. Conzen, MD
Maryellen L. Giger, PhD
Karen E. Kim, MD
Alverdy, the Sara and Harold Lincoln Thompson Professor of Surgery and executive vice chair of the Department of Surgery, was named president-elect of the Surgical Infection Society in May at the 34th annual Society meeting in Baltimore. He will assume the presidency in 2015. The Society has more than 550 members and publishes the journal, Surgical Infections.
Conzen, Professor in the Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, is developing a diagnostic tool to identify tumors in patients likely to benefit from treatment with a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist. The project, Companion Diagnostic for Treatment of Estrogen Receptor Negative Breast Cancer, was awarded $55,000 as a winter 2014 Innovation Fund awardee.
Giger, the A.N. Pritzker Professor of Radiology, is a co-founder and scientific advisor to Quantitative Insights, a company creating a software platform to help radiologists make more accurate and efficient breast cancer diagnoses. The company was awarded $100,000 as a winter 2014 Innovation Fund Awardee. The company also received $50,000 from the Innovation Fund in 2011.
Kim, Professor of Medicine in the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, was selected to serve as dean for faculty affairs in the Biological Sciences Division. Melina Hale, PhD, Professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, was also selected to serve in the same capacity. Kim focuses on clinical faculty and Hale on basic science faculty.
Alexander Langerman, MD Langerman, Assistant Professor of Surgery, was a principal investigator in one of the two proposals that won $50,000 from the new University of Chicago Medicine Innovations Grant Program. His study, entitled “Prudence” Surgical Cost Reduction Initiative, explores ways to engage surgeons and staff in reducing operating room costs related to disposable surgical supplies.
David Meltzer, MD, PhD Meltzer, Professor of Medicine and chief of the Section of Hospital Medicine at the University of Chicago Medicine, received the 2014 John M. Eisenberg Excellence in Mentoring Award by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Meltzer was also named as the speaker for the 520th Convocation of the University of Chicago in August.
Doriane Miller, MD Miller, Associate Professor of Medicine and director of the Center for Community Health and Vitality, presented a play she wrote about the ripple effects of community violence at the international Community-Campus Partnerships for Health Conference in Chicago in May. “It Shoulda Been Me” was written with funding support from an ITM grant.
Dana L. Suskind, MD Suskind, Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics, is the director of the University of Chicago Medicine Thirty Million Words (TMW) program that originated from an ITM grant. The PNC Foundation selected TMW to be part of a $19 million initiative supporting early childhood language development, and the White House plans to highlight TMW at an upcoming event.
Greene, the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor and Chair of the Ben May Department for Cancer Research, is leading a project with Bourgo, a postdoctoral fellow in the Ben May Department for Cancer Research, that was awarded $70,000 as a winter 2014 Innovation Fund awardee. The project, entitled Simplified Chromatin Conforma-
tion Capture (S3C), is working to develop a new tool for identifying long-distance genomic interactions key to normal biological function as well as diseases like cancer, diabetes, and inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. Their goal, which is already well underway, is to streamline the assay into a kit for researchers and drug developers.
Geoffrey L. Greene, PhD
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Ryan J. Bourgo, PhD
CLUSTER NEWS
ITM CLUSTERS The ITM served more than 1,500 investigators last year through targeted initiatives referred to as “clusters.” These clusters are led by distinguished faculty and administer support, training, and other services to move forward compelling translational research and community projects. The ITM clusters include: biomedical informatics, clinical resources, clinical trials, community, education, population sciences, and T1 research and technology. Cluster leaders meet with the ITM leadership every month to share their progress and identify areas for growth.
2013-2014 ITM CLUSTERS Biomedical Informat- Informatics Biomedical Leaders: Robert Grossman, PhD Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD
Clinical Resources Leaders: David Ehrmann, MD
Clinical Trials Leaders: Susan Cohn, MD Walter Stadler, MD
The ITM’s Clinical Resources Cluster offers The ITM’s Biomedical Informatics Cluster works investigators services, education, and the Clinical The ITM’s Clinical Trials Cluster works closely in partnership with the University of Chicago Resource Center (CRC) to support investigators’ with the University of Chicago Office of Clinical Center for Research Informatics (CRI) to provide research. The CRC provides unique services and Research to offer a full spectrum of services to services and data management tailored to clinical research assets, such as bionutrition expertise, a investigators engaging in human subject research. and translational science, offer education and metabolic kitchen, and specialized nursing and It connects investigators with the Institutional training that investigators can apply to their monitoring for clinical studies. The Cluster also Review Board (IRB)and human subject protecresearch, and collaborate with other scientists runs the Core Laboratory, which administers tion experts, study design consultants, and other through data storage, sharing, and other resourc- specimen processing for blood, urine, saliva, and resources to help make the process of launching a es. Monthly, hands-on bioinformatics training stool. clinical trial as streamlined as possible. sessions are held at no cost to investigators.
Community
Leaders: Deborah Burnet, MD Karen Kim, MD Doriane Miller, MD The ITM’s Community Cluster connects South Side leaders with health professionals and medical researchers to improve healthcare delivery and the quality of life of South Side residents. The Cluster facilitates the Community Advisory Review Council, Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), and other resources to investigators while providing community members with health programs, counseling, and other outreach.
Education
Leaders: Eric Beyer, MD, PhD David Meltzer, MD, PhD Olufunmilayo (Funmi) Olopade, MD
Population Sciences Leaders: Lainie Ross, MD, PhD Ronald Thisted, PhD
The ITM’s Population Sciences Cluster provides The ITM’s Education Cluster facilitates the support and education in study design, biostaCTSA K12 Scholar Program that gives junior tistics, epidemiology, research ethics, health outinvestigators protected time, mentoring, and come analysis, and more. This last year more than funding for their research. The ITM administered 100 investigators utilized its biostatistics offerings, 14 K Awards in 2013-2014. The ITM also works and it also offers year-round training and CME with the Center for Health and Social Services credit with programs like the Essentials of (CHeSS) to run the Committee on Clinical and Patient-Oriented Research (EPOR) and the Translational Sciences, a freestanding academic summer Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) unit that creates multidisciplinary curricula tarseries. geting clinical and translational sciences.
T1 Research and Technology
Leaders: Graeme I. Bell, PhD; John Cunningham, MD; Maryellen Giger, PhD; Raphael Lee, MD, ScD, DSc The ITM’s T1 Research and Technology Cluster provides training and access to enabling technological resources for T1 research. It also works in partnership with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Illinois Institute of Technology to run the D4Lab, a workshop series and project-based training program that combines entrepreneurship education with human-centered design to solve problems in biomedicine and health care. 16
CLUSTER NEWS - BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS
CENTER FOR RESEARCH INFORMATICS OFFERS FREE BIOINFORMATICS TRAINING By Sara Serritella While working on an epidemiology research project, Amikar Sehdev became interested in big data sets and the bioinformatics needed to manipulate them. After attending a few Center for Research Informatics (CRI) bioinformatics training sessions, he said he decided to change his career trajectory and obtain bioinformatics certification. “CRI was the catalyst,” said Sehdev, a third-year Hematology/Oncology fellow at the University of Chicago Medicine. Sehdev is now using bioinformatics in his own research comparing DNA mutations in obese colorectal cancer patients to those of colorectal cancer patients who are not. He is also a significant bioinformatics contributor in the lab of Olufunmilayo Olopade, MD, associate dean of Global Health and director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics. The Center for Research Informatics (CRI) has been hosting free bioinformatics training sessions supported by the ITM each month since 2012. In its first year alone, it taught more than 350 participants how to analyze complex biological
data, according to a CRI annual report. “Bioinformatics has become a vital analytic tool for conducting research, and we’ve made education an important part of CRI’s mission to meet the needs of our research community,” said Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD, director of the CRI and associate director of the ITM. “We’re working to expand our course offerings in partnership with the University of Chicago Medical Center, ITM, and other affiliates so that we can build on the excellent training that’s already underway.”
A classroom of students take a free, hands-on bioinformatics course in May offered by the Center for Research Informatics and supported by the ITM. Photo by Sara Serritella.
Other participants, like Shwu-Fan Ma, PhD, go in having more experience in the field. Ma is a research associate (assistant professor) at the University of Chicago Medicine’s Section of Pulmonary/Critical Care and has attended at least five of CRI’s bioinformatics training sessions.
Volchenboum said that training is being led by Jorge Andrade, PhD, CRI’s director of Bioinformatics. Andrade and Wenjun Kang, MS, a CRI Bioinformatics Core scientific programmer, led a three-hour session in May that served as an introduction to Linux, the primary operating system used in bioinformatics.
“The audience level is very broad, and the instructors are very knowledgeable,” Ma said. “After the first part of the lecture it’s up to the more advanced audience members to raise questions and they will answer for the specific needs. You can always get something out of it.”
“Many of the people participating do not have formal training in computer science or computer engineering, so this motivates them to get interested and involved,” Andrade said.
And that something comes at no cost – which could translate into saving thousands of dollars.
Attendee Tunde Adedokun, a University of Chicago Medicine student research assistant, said the training was a great way to learn something useful to his career.
Amikar Sehdev, PhD, attended several of CRI’s free bioinformatics training sessions. Photo by Sara Serritella.
But the impact the training has on 17
The amount of data generated from the benchside and bedside can run into the millions of entries and top hundreds of gigabytes, according to Ma, making bioinformatics knowledge critical in moving toward precision care. “Bioinformatics is essential now for the future of medical research,” she said. “The large quantity of data needs to be sorted and then quality-controlled, and you just can’t do that manually anymore.”
IF YOU GO
Bioinformatics training sessions are held at the end of each month. Check out CRI’s website for the latest dates and new learning opportunities. Remember to register early - because the classes are hands-on, there is limited seating with computer access.
“A training session on Linux for three hours will usually cost $300 to $500,” Andrade said, “And more specific analysis could go in the order of thousands.”
“I’ve used Windows all my life, so this opportunity is something that will be really helpful,” he said.
careers like Sehdev’s and research in general can’t be quantified with a price.
Want to learn more about bioinformatics? Reach Jorge Andrade at jandrade@bsd.uchicago.edu.
CLUSTER NEWS - CLINICAL RESOURCES
CRC Announces Updated Rates The Clinical Resource Center (CRC) offers investigators a variety of specialty services that aren’t available anywhere else at the University of Chicago. See the ways it can help you and note the updated CRC rates on the ITM website effective June 1, 2014, through May 31, 2015. ITM’s CRC offers several special services to investigators. Photo by Sara Serritella.
ITM PERSON TO KNOW: JENNIFER KILKUS, MS, RD, LDN Position: Manager of Bionutrition Research for the ITM’s Clinical Research Center (CRC) Background: Jennifer has served as the CRC’s manager of bionutrition research since 2005. Prior to the University of Chicago, she was a research bionutritionist at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Clinical Research Center and a clinical dietitian at Loyola University Medical Center. Jennifer also has taught a nutrition course for health care professionals as a part-time faculty instructor at the College of DuPage’s Department of Hospitality Administration since 2009, and her work has appeared in publications like the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Jennifer Kilkus, MS, RD, LDN. ITM Archive Photo. She is an alumna of Loyola University Chicago, where she received her bachelor’s degree in dietetics and nutrition, and of the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she received her master’s degree in human nutrition. Jennifer also has a certificate in medical writing and editing from The University of Chicago Graham School. Responsibilities: Jennifer collaborates with faculty investigators to provide nutrition expertise for their research protocols. She designs and implements research diets consistent with the scientific goals of each project, current nutritional knowledge and standards of practice, and the needs of individual research participants. As of March 2014, she also oversees the processing of CRC applications, which are accepted on a rolling basis. “I love being able to see protocols come full-circle. You work with the investigators and the study team from the time that they have the idea for their study through the application process and while their entire study is being carried out...It’s very rewarding.” When Planning Your Research Studies: • •
Reach out to Jennifer and the CRC team before submitting your application – they can help with the entire study design and development process based on CRC services like nursing, lab, nutrition and more. They’re also happy to answer any questions about conducting a CRC study and filling out the CRC application. If you put through an amendment to the Institutional Review Board (IRB), make sure to update the CRC on the changes so that they can disseminate the new information to CRC staff and ensure the research is done according to the required specifications.
Contact: Connect with Jennifer Kilkus by emailing her at jkilkus@bsd.uchicago.edu.
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CLUSTER NEWS - CLINICAL TRIALS & POPULATION SCIENCES
EPOR & SUMMER RCR COURSES TRAIN MORE THAN 200 PEOPLE BETWEEN 2013 - 2014
The University of Chicago Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) has been serving investigators and the community for almost a decade. Photo by Sara Serritella.
The ITM’s Essentials of Patient-Oriented Research (EPOR) and summer Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) courses trained more than 200 participants between 2013 and 2014. EPOR serves as an introduction to clinical research for young investigators, focusing its sessions on study design, ethics, and statistical methods. This past year more than 120 people attended the ITM’s
EPOR sessions that were held during three academic quarters.
nary/Critical Care, was one of the more than 50 RCR participants who attended the 2014 session that wrapped up Aug. 26.
More than 100 people combined attended the 2013 and 2014 summer RCR training programs that covered topics like conflicts of interest, the ethical treatment of animals in research, and intellectual property.
“It prepares you for the future,” Hamanaka said of the free training. “You’re reminded of what situations people can get themselves into and learn to recognize if those situations come up in your life and how you can deal with them in the best way.”
Robert Hamanaka, PhD, a research associate in the Section of Pulmo-
All trainees on training grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and/or National Science Foundation (NSF) are required to complete eight hours of a face-toface RCR course at the start of their training and again every four years. The next EPOR series will run October through December. Find more about upcoming classes online or contact Sara Serritella at sserritella1@bsd.uchicago.edu.
OFFICE OF CLINICAL RESEARCH OFFERING FALL TRAINING
The Fundamentals of Clinical Research course was held last spring and kicked off again on Tuesdays from 1:30 to 3:30 in Billings Hospital, W-632, starting Sept. 16 and running through Nov. 25. On average, almost two dozen participants attend the sessions each quarter. The training course educates clinical research staff and investigators on the regulatory and practical aspects of conducting clinical research at the University of Chicago, covering topics like federal regulations, informed consent processes, documentation and more. The course is free and CME credit is available. Plan on attending a session? Register by emailing Chrystal Johnston at cjohnsto@bsd.uchicago.edu.
The ITM has served more than 1,800 investigators since 2007. Photo by Sara Serritella.
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ITM CLUSTER NEWS - EDUCATION
ITM SCHOLARS LUNCH AND LEARN FROM RENOWNED FACULTY But he also laced his lecture with career wisdom, telling everyone to be ready for rejection.
In his case, he said he wrote a great E. coli grant that was rejected because the reviewers said E. coli was not a pathogen – a position that has been proven false. “You’re going to get a grant that comes back and a person is going to say, ‘This hypothesis is untenable and it will not work,’” Alverdy said. “And they’re going to be dead wrong.”
John C. Alverdy, MD, talks to a group of junior faculty during the ITM’s K Seminar Series. Photo by Sara Serritella.
By Sara Serritella Scholars enjoyed an intimate lunch with UChicago’s renowned John C. Alverdy, MD, in May as part of ITM’s monthly Career (K) Seminar Series that brings together junior faculty and senior experts. Alverdy, who introduced operations like bariatric and minimally invasive esophageal and biliopancreatic surgery, spends time at both the science bench and patient bedside as a clinical gastrointestinal surgeon and researcher doing breakthrough work into the pathophysiology of GI disorders at his NIH-funded laboratory. But Alverdy told the ITM attendees that his career path, like many others, was a “strange odyssey.”
2013 - 2014 SPEAKER LINEUP Presenters included: John C. Alverdy, MD Raymon Grogan, MD Wendy Stock, MD Hae Kyung Im, PhD David Grdina, PhD
Alverdy advised attendees to get their clinical trials going as soon as possible and to stay in an uncrowded space.
He wasn’t even planning on going to medical school until after he became sick while visiting a cousin in Mexico.
“The game today is not just to obtain an R01, but sustained R01 funding so your lab goes on for 20 years,” he said. “Whatever specialty you’re in, you need to really be careful to know that only you can answer the question you’re asking.”
“I got very interested in gut microbes because I contracted several of them,” Alverdy said. “And when I talk to people like myself, they always talk about what an odyssey it is that they ended up where they ended up. The transition to R funding is often not the linear path that it is made out to be.”
Philip A. Verhoef, MD, PhD, attended the seminar and said he already scheduled a follow-up meeting with Alverdy to talk more.
Alverdy shared his research with the group as they enjoyed catered sandwiches, salads and desserts.
“His work is pretty similar to the kinds of research questions I want to ask,” Verhoef said. “So for me, personally, it was really important that I have the chance to hear about what he’s doing in such a nice, small setting.”
“I study how physiologic stress releases host compensatory local cues,” Alverdy said, clicking through slides detailing his work. “And those cues are taken up by bacterial information processing systems. You activate these quorum sensing signaling systems in bacteria and then you observe them to display what we call assemblage behavior. These bacteria can now assemble as an entire community. And then you get what we call context-dependent virulence expression.”
Hongtao Liu, MD, PhD, said the best part of ITM’s Career (K) Seminars is hearing the personal research path of each presenter. “Dr. Alverdy gave us an excellent example to choose your scientific 20
IMPACTS “Faculty open up about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ issues that shaped their career. This insight can help put one’s own career development journey in perspective.” - Lea K. Davis, PhD “K Seminars are a nice way to network and learn how others have established their careers.” - Eunji Ji Chung, PhD field wisely, and you need to believe yourself and not be afraid to face the challenge,” Liu said.
Attendees enjoy a free lunch. Photo by Sara Serritella.
While everyone has a mentor in their departments, Alverdy said events like Monday’s lunch give people a chance to hear from someone completely outside of their normal space. “There are few opportunities here to see people completely out of your area of specialty and interact with them in a more intimate setting like that,” Alverdy said. The ITM’s next Career (K) Seminar is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Sept. 15, 2014. Visit itm.uchicago.edu for more information or contact Sara Serritella at sserritella1@bsd.uchicago.edu to get involved.
ITM CLUSTER NEWS - EDUCATION
REGISTER FOR FALL CCTS COURSES The Committee on Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) offers about five courses each quarter targeted toward translational science. Mark your calendar for fall classes, check out the below sampling of 2014 offerings, and visit the CHeSS and ITM websites for all the updated course information. In general, the courses are free to UChicago staff or faculty not seeking academic credit. Those registrants should email Liz Nida to enroll and inquire about potential CME credit. Those already enrolled in a degree-granting program and seeking academic credit should sign up through the Registrar system. CCTS 46001 Fundamentals of Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Instructors: Andy Davis and Laura Botwinick Time and Location: Tuesdays 5 - 6:30 p.m. in Billings H300 This course was designed for UChicago Medicine faculty and staff with the support of the CCTS to give an overview of concepts and methodologies for improving patient care. Participants will design quality improvement projects using skills learned in class and hear from UCMC leaders throughout the course.
CCTS 47001 Advanced Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Training Program 1 Instructors: Deborah Burnett and Doriane Miller Time and Location: Six Fridays throughout the year, details TBA CBPR involves community members, organizational representatives, and academic researchers in all aspects of the research process. Online registration for the CBPR Training Program is also required. Note: Registrants who wish to receive 025 units of course credit must register for CCTS 47001 in the fall quarter, CCTS 47002 in the winter quarter, and CCTS 47003 in the spring quarter.
CCTS 47000/27000 Bioinformatics Analysis of High-Throughput Genomics Data Instructors: Samuel Volchenboum, Jorge Andrade, Riyue Bao, Kyle Hernandez, Lei Huang, Sabah Kadri, and Kang Wenjun Time: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Dec. 3-5; 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Dec. 6. Location: TBA. Learn computational technologies and the latest bioinformatics analysis tools through in-depth practical theory and hands-on training.
CCTS 40004 Advanced Clinical Pharmacology I Instructors: Michael Maitland, Navin Pinto, and Manish Sharma Time and Location: 3:30 – 4:50 p.m. Tuesdays in M214 Get an interactive introduction to fundamental principles of clinical pharmacology relevant to drug development and personalized therapeutics.
ITM PERSON TO KNOW: LIZ NIDA, MS
Position: Associate Director for Training Programs at the Center of Health and the Social Sciences (CHeSS) Background: Since 2013, Liz has served as the associate director for training programs at CHeSS and as the administrator of the Committee on Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) academic courses offered through CHeSS and the ITM.
Liz Nida, MS. Photo provided.
Prior to receiving her MSW at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, she studied business administration at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Liz has also served as a clinical social worker at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and worked in marketing and PR in Colorado. She now applies those diverse skill sets to bridge the business and social service fields in healthcare and education.
Responsibilities: Liz spends half of her time developing academic courses, working with the ITM, CHeSS, and faculty members to offer unique CCTS classes each quarter. The rest of her time is spent on social service initiatives and building community relationships for the Comprehensive Care Program launched by CHeSS Director, ITM Education Cluster Co-Leader, and CCTS Chair David Meltzer, MD, PhD. “In CCTS a lot of the courses have people from different departments because of how it impacts their clinical activities or their research interest…The fun part is seeing an idea really develop, end up becoming a course, and hearing really nice feedback and ways in which we could tweak little things to make it better.” Contact:
Reach Liz at enida@bsd.uchicago.edu to register for CCTS academic offerings or create a new translational science course.
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ITM CLUSTER NEWS - COMMUNITY
PILOT PROJECT BECOMES FINALIST IN SOCIAL NEW VENTURE CHALLENGE, FORMS NONPROFIT IN THE NEWS
Watch ABC7 Chicago highlight YogaCare during a July broadcast. By Sara Serritella An ITM Pilot Project led by Kohar Jones, MD, and UChicago alumnus Greg Van Hyfte has evolved to become a finalist in the University of Chicago’s premier startup program and is establishing its nonprofit status to bring therapeutic yoga to Chicago’s South Side. “We’re at the forefront of addressing yoga in underserved communities,” said Jones, Assistant Professor and director of Community Health and Service Learning at the University of Chicago Medicine. “We bring culturally competent, therapeutic yoga to everyone regardless of the neighborhoods where they live and their ability to pay.” While research shows that yoga benefits at least 75 health conditions, less yoga is available in medically underserved areas. To address these health disparities, Jones, Van Hyfte, and yoga teacher Julia Pedersen partnered with University of Chicago MBA/ MD candidate Kevin Stephens, MBA candidate Kristin Cho, and a team of business advisors and other supporters to launch YogaCare, using ITM funding to gather the data that laid the groundwork for their organization. YogaCare went on to become a finalist at the 2014 John Edwardson, ‘72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) put on by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Social Enterprise Initiative at Chicago Booth.
The data from their 2013 study of 70 yoga participants showed statistically significant reductions in pain and stress. “The research piece was incredibly valuable for our operations and developing our business plan,” Van Hyfte said, noting that the SNVC advisors considered it one of YogaCare’s strengths. “We had that thanks to the ITM and the research project.”
Kohar Jones, MD, (L) and Greg Van Hyfte (R) rehearse for their GoodCity Chicago presentation in June. Photo by Sara Serritella.
location, and one at CommunityHealth’s West Town location. Sessions at CFHC are pay-what-youcan with a suggested $5 donation. Listing a specific donation amount was based on advice from the SNVC, Van Hyfte said, and it has increased YogaCare’s average income per student by about a dollar. Sessions at CommunityHealth are free based on its volunteer model.
YogaCare grew out of Van Hyfte’s 2010 Schweitzer Fellowship project, during which he offered free yoga courses to patients, staff and the community at the Chicago Family Health Center (CFHC) where Jones practices family medicine. The two connected, and YogaCare has gone on to secure about $9,000 in funding from the Schweitzer Fellowship and American Medical Association Foundation, as well as more than $4,000 from the GoodCity Chicago incubator in June.
And as they continue to evaluate the program and chart health outcomes, Jones said their work could also impact health care on a larger level.
But YogaCare doesn’t just offer classes – it has a mentoring component to help others become yoga instructors.
“One of our questions now is about the potential for using yoga classes to increase patient activation, to encourage the participants to care for themselves through yoga classes and see how that translates to their health care behaviors in general,” Jones said.
“We’re training students who live in the communities where classes are held to be teachers,” Van Hyfte said. “We’re building community stability and sustainability.” Right now YogaCare is offering four classes – two at the CFHC, one at CommunityHealth’s Englewood
YogaCare presented its research at the 2013 annual meeting of the 22
Family Medicine Midwest Foundation in Milwaukee and at the 2014 international Yoga and Health: Research and Practice conference in London in April. They also presented the YogaCare model at the 4th annual Integrative Medicine for the Underserved conference in September with YogaCare board member Sonia Oyola, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Chicago.
REAL DATA, REAL RESULTS See YogaCare’s poster showing its research on the Health Benefits of Yoga in Underserved Clinical Settings. Visit its website for more.
Connect with YogaCare by reaching out to Kohar Jones at kjones1@bsd.uchicago.edu or Greg Van Hyfte at yogacaregreg@gmail.com.
ITM CLUSTER NEWS - COMMUNITY
ITM and University of Chicago Medicine Partner to Improve Outcomes in Pediatric Asthma & Adult Diabetes Six local nonprofits have been selected as the first recipients of more than $250,000 from the new University of Chicago Medicine Community Benefits Grant Program, a joint initiative between the Urban Health Initiative (UHI) and the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM). “All of us at the Chicago Asthma Consortium are thrilled to receive a Community Benefits Grant,” said Stacy Ignoffo, executive director of the Chicago Asthma Consortium, one of the awardees. “It will allow us to improve asthma screening, education, policies, and referrals to quality medical care in the charter school setting in what we hope will serve as a model for other schools in Chicago and beyond.” The Community Benefits Grant Program was created to address pediatric asthma and adult diabetes in South Side residents, two prevalent conditions identified by a 2012 University of Chicago Medicine Community Health Needs Assessment. “These local organizations deserve recognition for the great work they’re doing, and I’m thrilled that we’ll be collaborating with them to address these common diseases that so adversely affect sufferers’ quality of life,” said Julian Solway, MD, dean for translational medicine and director of the ITM. Almost 20 percent of children in the area have asthma, according to the assessment, and about six in every 10 of those children missed school and experienced an emergency or urgent care visit in 2011
because of their condition. The assessment also showed that among the community adults diagnosed with diabetes, more than 60 percent had more than three medical visits in 2011 related to their disease. “With this program, we not only are leading the way for campus and community partnerships, but helping amplify the efforts of innovative organizations serving Goggles line the shelf of a UChicago laboratory. Photo by Sara Serritella. at-risk and underserved populations in our priority health areas,” said Brenda A. Battle, vice president of care delivery innovation and the Asian Health Coalition - $29,500 - Its CommunityHealth - $50,000 - Its Take administrative leader of UHI. Diabetes Prevention Program for Asians Action! Diabetes Management Program
2014 Awardees
Applicants needed to outline measurable objectives that would be completed within 12 months and have support from collaborating organizations in order to be considered.
in Chinatown will address gaps in conventional diabetes health education and disease management for the underserved and limited-English-proficiency Asian immigrant populations. These gaps are due to limited opportunities for culturally and linguistically tailored health education.
“The new Community Benefits Grant Program is a natural partnership for ITM and UHI, as our missions emphasize using research to improve community health, and we’re looking forward to working with many dynamic community groups in the years to come,” Solway said.
St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center - $50,000 - Its Pediatric Asthma Clinic will add a patient advocate position to help improve care coordination, education, and assistance for patients and their caregivers by identifying and mitigating home and environmental asthma triggers.
The ITM is able to support such initiatives thanks to the more than $50 million in total funding it has received since 2007 from the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) CTSA grant numbers UL1 TR000430, KL2 TR000431, and TL1 TR000432, and from the University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences.
Chicago Asthma Consortium $48,425 - Its Comprehensive SchoolBased Approach to Improve Asthma Outcomes, a pilot program within a charter public school, will consist of three parts: screening and referral, education, and policy. The goal is to create a model that can be applied in other Chicago schools to improve identification of children with asthma, education about management, and implementation of policy.
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provides patients with essential information to build self-management skills for controlling their medical conditions while also establishing and monitoring interventions and healthy outcomes at the Englewood Clinic.
Mobile CARE Foundation - $45,000 - The Roseland Community Initiative will utilize existing asthma vans to serve Roseland-area children through monthly visits to 13 sites (an expansion from eight sites) for annual asthma screenings. The grant also will make possible data-sharing with Roseland Hospital, the creation of a network of community health workers, and regular meetings and trainings with Roseland staff. Respiratory Health Association - $30,000 - Its Southside Asthma Management Project will educate children through Fight Asthma Now© and their adult caregivers through asthma management programs, focusing on early recognition of asthma symptoms, common triggers, emergency care, proper inhaler use, and medications. In partnership with the Midwest Pesticide Action Center, adult caregivers will also be educated about environmental triggers to help them prevent asthma
ITM LEADERSHIP NEWS
Susan Cohn Appointed Dean of Clinical Research By Sara Serritella
Kenneth S. Polonsky, dean of the University of Chicago’s Division of Biological Sciences (BSD), announced the appointment of the ITM’s Susan Cohn, MD, as dean of clinical research April 15.
and Conrad Gilliam, PhD, dean of basic science research. Cohn said those meetings will help identify additional resources and research areas ripe for collaboration across all sections of the BSD.
“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to advance our clinical research program at the university,” Cohn said.
“We have outstanding faculty who have research interests in many different areas,” Cohn said. “Sometimes introducing a researcher with clinical skills to an investigator who is focused on translational or basic research will result in studies that transform the field,” she said.
Cohn took over the position from Walter Stadler, MD, who stepped down to focus on his recent appointment as section chief of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine. Cohn said Stadler helped establish an efficient program and gained significant support for clinical trial research. “In this role, Dr. Cohn will direct the strategy and operations of the Office of Clinical Research, which oversees our clinical research studies, ensuring they are conducted in a compliant, safe manner for all research participants,” said Kenneth Polonsky, MD, BSD dean and executive vice president for medical affairs. And the pediatric oncologist hasn’t wasted any time. Cohn, who has been a co-leader of ITM’s Clinical Trials Cluster for the past seven years, has been meeting with faculty from clinical programs across campus in the months since her appointment to better understand their research and specific needs. She has also been attending biweekly meetings with Polonsky; Julian Solway, MD, ITM’s director and dean for translational medicine;
Susan Cohn, MD, was appointed dean of clinical research in April. Photo provided.
Cohn, who has devoted her career to studying neuroblastoma and caring for children afflicted with the deadly cancer, speaks from experience.
es neuroblastoma phenotype and contributes to the ethnic disparities in survival we had observed.” The Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) published their findings in 2013.
Before joining the University of Chicago faculty, Cohn focused her research on investigating the biology of neuroblastoma tumor cells. Shortly after her UChicago arrival, she attended a number of lectures on health disparities and decided to investigate whether ethnic disparities in survival are observed in children with neuroblastoma. Using data from a large cohort of children enrolled in Oncology Group studies, she found that African-American patients had a higher prevalence of clinically aggressive, high-risk neuroblastoma and worse outcomes than Caucasian patients.
In her new role, Cohn said she also hopes to apply successes she’s had in creating a centralized pediatric clinical trials office - which includes expanding a staff of highly trained clinical research associates who can help investigators activate clinical trials and conduct clinical research in an efficient manner. “To have research staff who understand what it takes to get clinical trials through the entire regulatory process, to be in compliance and to make sure that we’re always conducting ethical research is obviously of utmost importance,” said Cohn, who serves as the director of clinical sciences in the Department of Pediatrics and is the acting section head for Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology. “And the University of Chicago has very high standards for all of these things.
“While I was conducting these studies, I was very fortunate to be introduced to UChicago’s renowned statistical geneticist, Nancy Cox,” Cohn said. “In a collaborative study we were able to perform a trans-population analysis of more than 2,700 children with neuroblastoma and show that common germline genetic variation influenc-
ITM support has enabled that pedi24
atric clinical trials staff to grow by at least another full-time member, and Cohn said she plans to expand that resource outside the department to make it as easy as possible for other investigators to start clinical trials. Looking to the future, Cohn said she is excited about goals to expand clinical research beyond the small number of patients enrolled in clinical trials through the creation of a universal University of Chicago Medicine consent form. Every patient would have the opportunity to sign the form, giving all patients a streamlined option to donate blood or tissue samples, information from their electronic medical records and more that could be analyzed and preserved for future research. “We’ll take it one step at a time,” said Cohn, adding that a pilot program for the universal consent forms was in the works. “I’m someone who very much understands that you can have a big vision, but you need to take steps that are a little bit smaller initially to move Have an idea to share with Susan Cohn? Email her at scohn@peds.bsd.uchicago.edu.
ITM LEADERSHIP NEWS
ITM BIDS FAREWELL TO FORMER CRC DIRECTOR
ITM WELCOMES NEW FISCAL ANALYST
Roy Weiss, MD, PhD, former director of ITM’s Clinical Research Center (CRC), left the University of Chicago Medicine in June to become the new chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Florida. “He’s just fantastic,” said Jennifer Kilkus, MS, RD, LDN, CRC manager of bionutrition research. “He’s just a wealth of information and was very supportive over the years. He will be definitely be missed.” Weiss spent 29 years at the University of Chicago, where he also served as the Rabbi Morris I. Esformes Endowed Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics,
Tonirenee Shaw joined the ITM as its new fiscal analyst in April. Photo by Sara Serritella. Roy E. Weiss, MD, PhD, is the new chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Photo by UChicago Medicine.
Chief of the Section of Adult and Pediatric Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Executive Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine, and Deputy Provost for Research.
ITM APPOINTS NEW CRC LAB DIRECTOR
Position: ITM Fiscal Analyst
Joined in: April
Responsibilities: Tonirenee Shaw uses her advanced knowledge of invoice processing procedures to perform a variety of accounting activities. Those include handling complex accounts receivable and accounts payable inquiries, disbursing payments to vendors and reimbursing investigators. She also analyzes the ITM account data and reviews invoice payment reports.
On joining the team: “What I enjoy the most in my position are my co-workers. We are a fairly small group that makes enormous things happen as we work to get investigators the funding they need to do various types of research. I am proud to be part of this department because with all of these studies, we might just find that cure!”
Reach Tonirenee Shaw about invoices and other account information at tshaw5@bsd.uchicago.edu.
which encompasses all laboratory testing at patients’ bedsides and in the outpatient clinic setting. He also serves as the associate director of UC MedLabs, the hospital’s outreach laboratory group. McClintock has a Pathology Informatics Laboratory as well that focuses on laboratory workflow analysis, informatics translational research, and telepathology.
David McClintock, MD, has been appointed lab director of the ITM’s CRC. Photo by UChicago Medicine.
David McClintock, MD, was appointed lab director of ITM’s Clinical Research Center (CRC) in June. McClintock is the medical director
of Pathology Informatics, governing the Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) of the clinical laboratories, in addition to serving as the medical director of the University of Chicago Medicine’s Point of Care testing,
He steps into this new role following the departure of the CRC’s previous lab director, Roy Weiss, MD, PhD, who left to accept a position 25
as the new chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. McClintock will oversee a staff of two at the CRC’s decentralized CLIA and CAP-certified lab and be the administrator in charge of point of care tests for research purposes, such as YSI glucometry for glucose tolerance studies.
Reach David McClintock at David.McClintock@uchospitals.edu.
ITM LEADERSHIP NEWS
ITM WELCOMES NEW COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Sara Serritella joined the ITM team in April as its new communications manager. She oversees its communications platforms, including its print and online publications, social media, website and more, and she will also be representing the ITM at the CTSA/NCATS national level. Serritella has reported at news organizations across the country, with her work appearing in publications like The Wall Street Journal, TIME, The Miami Herald, the Associated Press and The Times of Northwest
Indiana. She contributed to the Pulitzer Prize-winning team reporting at the Detroit Free Press and most recently served as the managing editor of Chicago Ideas Week, the Midwest’s largest innovation platform.
Sara Serritella joined the ITM as its new communications manager in April. Photo provided.
to highlight breakthroughs in translational medicine.
In her journalism days, she covered everything from health care to federal courts and was among the pioneers of multimedia reporting on those beats. She looks forward to using those three-dimensional storytelling techniques at the ITM
Serritella is a proud alumna of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and
Integrated Marketing Communications, and she is thrilled to mix Maroon into her Wildcat pride. She looks forward to hearing from you about research updates, publications and other news.
Share your latest news with Sara Serritella at sserritella1@bsd.uchicago.edu.
ITM EVOLVES
ITM is changing the way it brings you the latest translational news. Engage with us. We want to collaborate with you and help you collaborate with others. Look to us for information on funding opportunities, breakthrough science discoveries, and highlighting your accomplishments as well as those of your colleagues within the ITM community and beyond.
Many changes have already begun.
the world.
You may have noticed the redesign of our weekly newsletters, which you can sign up for here. They are shorter, snappier, and allow you to quickly find the news most relevant to you. Just click on the targeted links to find out more.
Join the conversation by clicking on the Facebook and Twitter icons on this page. Connect with your colleagues in this publication by clicking on the ITM logo or their email addresses at the end of their stories to send them a message. And stay tuned for a website redesign, during which we’ll be making the site easier to navigate and less text-heavy.
We’re also sharing your news regularly on our redesigned social media platforms, where you can stay up to date not only on UChicago-related translational news but on some of the most creative applications of translational medicine from around
Also be on the lookout for step-bystep instructions on the best ways to update your research networking faculty profiles.
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But as a news platform that is here to serve you, we want to hear from you to know how that can best be accomplished. Tell us: What do you like about our newsletters and other communications materials? What can we do better? What seminars or training sessions would you like to participate in? Please send any feedback to Sara Serritella at sserritella1@bsd.uchicago.edu.
INNOVATION ON CAMPUS
UCHICAGO OPENING INNOVATION HUB TO HELP TRANSLATE RESEARCH INTO BETTER HEALTH By Sara Serritella Decades ago ITM investigator and medical physicist Maryellen L. Giger, PhD, said she did not understand the need to patent or license her work – she embraced the university setting and wanted to share her research freely for all to benefit. Fast forward to 2014, and Giger now holds 25 patents and has launched business ventures based on her lab discoveries. “I’m a convert,” said Giger, the A.N. Pritzker Professor in the Department of Radiology, director of the Imaging Research Institute and senior fellow in the Computation Institute. “If we really want to have a beneficial impact on society, we have to translate to the point where our research is truly being used.” Investigators will soon have a powerhouse hub to help them
make that impact. This October the University of Chicago’s new Chicago Innovation Exchange (CIE) is scheduled to open its 17,000-square foot main space on 53rd St. The CIE has an arsenal of partners that include the Booth School of Business, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the ITM, UChicagoTech, major national research laboratories like Argonne, Fermilab and the Marine Biological Laboratory, and others to make translating research into better health as easy as possible.
Maryellen Giger, PhD, holds more than 25 patents. Photo by Sara Serritella.
possible, and to identify partners and internal and external resources that can support the commercialization of these ideas.”
“Our investigators know their research better than anyone else, but they don’t necessarily have expertise to turn it into a business in order to introduce it to the world,” said Jason Pariso, director of operations for CIE’s Innovation Fund. “Our mission is to streamline and prepackage the process wherever
The Innovation Fund, which is run jointly by UChicagoTech and Polsky, is just one of many mentoring, funding, intellectual property consulting and other resources available under the new CIE umbrella. The $20-million philanthropic venture fund supports proof-of-concept work to help commercialize research discoveries. Since 2010 it has awarded about $2.1 million to more than two dozen university projects. Polsky’s Edward L. Kaplan, ‘71, New Venture Challenge offers another vehicle for turning great ideas into viable businesses. The premier startup program culminates in an annual competition where finalists pitch to a panel of veteran entrepreneurs and investors, and prizes are given in the form of cash, legal services and professional consulting. Giger has benefited from both.
The Chicago Innovation Exchange gave tours in May at the site of its new home, shown here under construction. Photo by Sara Serritella.
In 2009 she and her lab teamed up with some Booth students to enter the New Venture Challenge – they made it to the final nine and formed a company called Quantitative Insights (QI), which is currently in the process of applying for FDA approval for its clinical workstation. With their software, they aim to help radiologists make more accurate breast cancer diagnoses by seamlessly merging image analysis methods with mammography, ultrasound and MRI displays. Radiologists estimate it might potentially reduce the time it takes to interpret a breast MRI scan by around 60 percent. Quantitative Insights also received $100,000 last February and $50,000 in 2011 from the Innovation Fund. “If you just give your developments away, no one will commercialize them because businesses run on making money, i.e., a competitive edge,” Giger said. “And what we develop is often not ready for use ...Continued on page 28.
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INNOVATION ON CAMPUS ...Continued from page 27.
– for example, our computer-aided diagnostic methods needed a more user-friendly interface to make them more efficient.” That customer development is what Pariso refers to as the “scientific method for business,” where you make a hypothesis about what needs people have and what they’re willing to pay for your product. You then test it by asking potential customers if that theory is true. The Innovation Fund supports this development through its student diligence teams, which give investigators the flexibility of being as involved in the process as their time allows.
“It doesn’t have to take you away from your research or take you away from your focus,” Pariso said. “Seeing your intellectual property being utilized can be very satisfying, additive to your career and raise your stature at the university and within your industry.”
by one of the startups he co-founded. “The research you’re doing has a chance to do the good that you hoped it would do,” Pariso said, adding that the CIE also helps nonprofits and research for rare diseases that might not otherwise get traction from pharmaceutical companies.
In addition to Giger, Pariso said the University of Illinois’ John Rogers, PhD, is another example of a researcher who has mastered the innovation equation.
And with the cuts to the NIH’s budget lowering 2013 appropriations by $1.55 billion and decreasing average grant award sizes, that licensing could offer another funding stream to fuel researchers’ labs for the next big discovery.
Rogers has published more than 350 papers and is an inventor on more than 80 patents and patent applications, 50 of which are licensed to companies or being used
MARK YOUR CALENDARS The Innovation Fund cycle runs every six months and awards are typically made in May and December. Visit the CIE’s website for the latest submission deadlines.
Send Maryellen Giger an email at m-giger@uchicago.edu or contact Jason Pariso at jpariso@uchicago.edu.
NEW GRANT NUMBER FOR CITING THE ITM When publishing your work, please remember to cite the ITM. It ensures that we’ll be able to provide the same financial support and other resources that you were able to enjoy for the next generation of investigators. Please note the updated grant number information for citing your work, and visit the ITM website for more information: Scholars
Students analyze medical images in the laboratory of Maryellen Giger, PhD. Photo by Sara Serritella.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center For Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number KL2 TR000431. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Grant Awardees and Recipients of Other ITM-Funded Support This includes Pilot and Mini-Grant awardees, CRC investigators, and those who receive support from resources or services that are partially funded by the ITM, such as those relating to biostatistics and the Center for Research Informatics (CRI). Please contact ITM Administrative Director Bushra Rehman with any citation questions.
Trainees Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center For Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number TL1 TR000432. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center For Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UL1 TR000430. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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ITM INVESTIGATOR PUBLICATIONS
RESEARCH PUBLISHED JULY 2013 - JULY 2014 ITM investigators - those who received funding, education, or other support directly or indirectly from the ITM - published about 1,400 research papers in the last year. Enjoy highlights from some of those publications, listed below in chronological order, and click on the links to learn more. Second cistron in CACNA1A gene encodes a transcription factor mediating cerebellar development and SCA6. Du X, Wang J, Zhu H, Rinaldo L, Lamar KM, Palmenberg AC, Hansel C, Gomez CM. Cell. 2013 Jul 3;154(1):118-33.
M, Roden DM, Cox NJ, Altman RB, Klein TE, Nakamura Y, Johnson JA. Lancet. 2013 Aug 31;382(9894):790-6. Intestinal epithelial vitamin D receptor signaling inhibits experimental colitis. Hanauer SB, Huang Y, Liu W, Kong J, Chen Y, Li YC, Golan MA, Annunziata ML, Du J, Dougherty U, Musch M, Pekow J, Zheng C, Bissonnette M J Clin Invest. 2013 Sep 3;123(9):3983.
CASK regulates SAP97 conformation and its interactions with AMPA and NMDA receptors. Lin EI, Jeyifous O, Green WN J Neurosci. 2013 Jul 17;33(29):12067. Genome-wide discovery of genetic variants affecting tamoxifen sensitivity and their clinical and functional validation. Gamazon ER, Flockhart DA, Skaar TC, Weng L, Ziliak D, Im HK, Philips S, Nguyen AT, Desta Z, Huang RS Ann Oncol. 2013 Jul;24(7):1867.
A prospective study of nighttime vital sign monitoring frequency and risk of clinical deterioration. Arora VM, Edelson DP, Yoder JC, Yuen TC, Churpek MM JAMA Intern Med. 2013 Sep 9;173(16):1554 . Clinical review: Adolescent anovulation: maturational mechanisms and implications. Rosenfield RL J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Sep;98(9):3572.
Can we do better than dobutamine?. McNally EM. Circ Res. 2013 Aug 2;113(4):355-7. Atypical sleep in ventilated patients: empirical electroencephalography findings and the path toward revised ICU sleep scoring criteria. Ely EW, Bernard GR, Shintani AK, Thompson JL, Malow BA, Watson PL, Pandharipande P, Gehlbach BK, Dittus BS Crit Care Med. 2013 Aug;41(8):1958.
A three-stage model of Golgi structure and function. Day KJ, Staehelin LA, Glick BS. Histochem Cell Biol. 2013 Sep;140(3):239-49. A nondegenerate code of deleterious variants in Mendelian loci contributes to complex disease risk. Blair DR, Lyttle CS, Mortensen JM, Bearden CF, Jensen AB, Khiabanian H, Melamed R, Rabadan R, Bernstam EV, Brunak S, Jensen LJ, Nicolae D, Shah NH, Grossman RL, Cox NJ, White KP, Rzhetsky A. Cell. 2013 Sep 26;155(1):70-80.
PURLs: should you still recommend omega-3 supplements? Mounsey A, Monaco J, Bello Kottenstette J J Fam Pract. 2013 Aug;62(8):422. Role of proximal tubule in the hypocalciuric response to thiazide of patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria. Worcester EM, Bergsland KJ, Coe FL Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2013 Aug 15;305(4):F592.
PURLs: ramipril for claudication? Stevermer JJ, Rogers N, Stephens LA J Fam Pract. 2013 Oct;62(10):579.
Gender bias in autoimmunity is influenced by microbiota. Yurkovetskiy L, Burrows M, Khan AA, Graham L, Volchkov P, Becker L, Antonopoulos D, Umesaki Y, Chervonsky AV. Immunity. 2013 Aug 22;39(2):400-12.
A logic model for community engagement within the Clinical and Translational Science Awards consortium: can we measure what we model? Carter-Edwards L, Rumala BB, Wallerstein N, Hurd TC, Eder MM Acad Med. 2013 Oct;88(10):1430.
Genetic variants associated with warfarin dose in African-American individuals: a genome-wide association study. Perera MA, Cavallari LH, Limdi NA, Gamazon ER, Konkashbaev A, Daneshjou R, Pluzhnikov A, Crawford DC, Wang J, Liu N, Tatonetti N, Bourgeois S, Takahashi H, Bradford Y, Burkley BM, Desnick RJ, Halperin JL, Khalifa SI, Langaee TY, Lubitz SA, Nutescu EA, Oetjens M, Shahin MH, Patel SR, Sagreiya H, Tector M, Weck KE, Rieder MJ, Scott SA, Wu AH, Burmester JK, Wadelius M, Deloukas P, Wagner MJ, Mushiroda T, Kubo
Reversible DNA methylation regulates seasonal photoperiodic time measurement. Stevenson TJ, Prendergast BJ Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Oct 8;110(41):16651.
...Continued on page 30.
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ITM INVESTIGATOR PUBLICATIONS ...Continued from page 29.
Interactions between pregnancy, obstructive sleep apnea, and gestational diabetes mellitus. Ehrmann DA, Van Cauter E, Wroblewski K, Reutrakul S, Zaidi N, Kay HH, Ismail M J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Oct;98(10):4195.
Genetic variation near IRF8 is associated with serologic and cytokine profiles in systemic lupus erythematosus and multiple sclerosis. Niewold TB, Kariuki SN, Chrabot BS, Zervou MI, Feng X, Arrington J, Jolly M, Boumpas DT, Reder AT, Goulielmos GN Genes Immun. 2013 Dec;14(8):471.
Circulating adropin concentrations in pediatric obstructive sleep apnea: potential relevance to endothelial function. Gozal D, Kheirandish-Gozal L, Bhattacharjee R, Molero-Ramirez H, Tan HL, Bandla HP. J Pediatr. 2013 Oct;163(4):1122-6.
A function for EHD family proteins in unidirectional retrograde dendritic transport of BACE1 and Alzheimer’s disease Aβ production. Buggia-Prévot V, Fernandez CG, Udayar V, Vetrivel KS, Elie A, Roseman J, Sasse VA, Lefkow M, Meckler X, Bhattacharyya S, George M, Kar S, Bindokas VP, Parent AT, Rajendran L, Band H, Vassar R, Thinakaran G. Cell Rep. 2013 Dec 26;5(6):1552-63.
Chromosome replication and segregation govern the biogenesis and inheritance of inorganic polyphosphate granules. Henry JT, Crosson S. Mol Biol Cell. 2013 Oct;24(20):3177-86.
N6-methyladenosine-dependent regulation of messenger RNA stability. Wang X, Lu Z, Gomez A, Hon GC, Yue Y, Han D, Fu Y, Parisien M, Dai Q, Jia G, Ren B, Pan T, He C. Nature. 2014 Jan 2;505(7481):117-20.
Occludin OCEL-domain interactions are required for maintenance and regulation of the tight junction barrier to macromolecular flux. Buschmann MM, Shen L, Rajapakse H, Raleigh DR, Wang Y, Wang Y, Lingaraju A, Zha J, Abbott E, McAuley EM, Breskin LA, Wu L, Anderson K, Turner JR, Weber CR. Mol Biol Cell. 2013 Oct;24(19):3056-68.
Steroids for acute COPD--but for how long? Mounsey A, Asher GN J Fam Pract. 2014 Jan;63(1):29.
Median arcuate ligament syndrome in the pediatric population. Mak GZ, Speaker C, Anderson K, Stiles-Shields C, Lorenz J, Drossos T, Liu DC, Skelly CL. J Pediatr Surg. 2013 Nov;48(11):2261-70.
Low-dose penicillin for recurrent cellulitis? Rowland K, Nguyen L J Fam Pract. 2014 Jan;63(1):E10.
PURLs: Is self-swabbing for STIs a good idea? Mounsey A, Rowland K, Page C J Fam Pract. 2013 Nov;62(11):651.
Cognitive and motor function in long-duration PARKIN- associated Parkinson disease. Alcalay RN, Caccappolo E, Mejia-Santana H, Tang MX, Rosado L, Orbe Reilly M, Ruiz D, Louis ED, Comella CL, Nance MA, Bressman SB, Scott WK, Tanner CM, Mickel SF, Waters CH, Fahn S, Cote LJ, Frucht SJ, Ford B, Rezak M, Novak KE, Friedman JH, Pfeiffer RF, Marsh L, Hiner B, Payami H, Molho E, Factor SA, Nutt JG, Serrano C, Arroyo M, Ottman R, Pauciulo MW, Nichols WC, Clark LN, Marder KS. JAMA Neurol. 2014 Jan;71(1):62-7.
SLIT3-ROBO4 activation promotes vascular network formation in human engineered tissue and angiogenesis in vivo. Paul JD, Coulombe KL, Toth PT, Zhang Y, Marsboom G, Bindokas VP, Smith DW, Murry CE, Rehman J. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2013 Nov;64:124-31. PURLs: Should you screen for postpartum depression? Prasad S, Slattengren AH, Kaiseruddin MA J Fam Pract. 2013 Nov;62(11):E1.
Targeting the tumor microenvironment with interferon-β bridges innate and adaptive immune responses. Yang X, Zhang X, Fu ML, Weichselbaum RR, Gajewski TF, Guo Y, Fu YX. Cancer Cell. 2014 Jan 13;25(1):37-48.
Identification of genetic variants that affect histone modifications in human cells. McVicker G, van de Geijn B, Degner JF, Cain CE, Banovich NE, Raj A, Lewellen N, Myrthil M, Gilad Y, Pritchard JK. Science. 2013 Nov 8;342(6159):747-9.
Induction of innate lymphoid cell-derived interleukin-22 by the transcription factor STAT3 mediates protection against intestinal infection. Guo X, Qiu J, Tu T, Yang X, Deng L, Anders RA, Zhou L, Fu YX. Immunity. 2014 Jan 16;40(1):25-39. PubMed PMID: 24412612.
Sec16 influences transitional ER sites by regulating rather than organizing COPII. Bharucha N, Liu Y, Papanikou E, McMahon C, Esaki M, Jeffrey PD, Hughson FM, Glick BS. Mol Biol Cell. 2013 Nov;24(21):3406-19.
Rates of complications and mortality in older patients with diabetes mellitus: the diabetes and aging study. Huang ES, Laiteerapong N, Liu JY, John PM, Moffet HH, Karter AJ. JAMA Intern Med. 2014 Feb 1;174(2):251-8.
Crystal structure of Vб1 T cell receptor in complex with CD1d-sulfatide shows MHC-like recognition of a self- lipid by human γб T cells. Luoma AM, Castro CD, Mayassi T, Bembinster LA, Bai L, Picard D, Anderson B, Scharf L, Kung JE, Sibener LV, Savage PB, Jabri B, Bendelac A, Adams EJ. Immunity. 2013 Dec 12;39(6):1032-42.
Integrating diabetes self-management interventions for Mexican-Americans into the Catholic church setting. Gorawara-Bhat R, Chin MH, Baig AA, Locklin CA, Wilkes AE, Oborski DD, Acevedo JC, Quinn MT, Burnet DL J Relig Health. 2014 Feb;53(1):105. ...Continued on page 31. 30
ITM INVESTIGATOR PUBLICATIONS ...Continued from page 30.
PURLs: treating migraine: the case for aspirin. Mounsey A, Ingledue VF J Fam Pract. 2014 Feb;63(2):94.
Looking Ahead 2014 - 2015
A randomized trial of bevacizumab for newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Gilbert MR, Dignam JJ, Armstrong TS, Wefel JS, Blumenthal DT, Vogelbaum MA, Colman H, Chakravarti A, Pugh S, Won M, Jeraj R, Brown PD, Jaeckle KA, Schiff D, Stieber VW, Brachman DG, Werner- Wasik M, Tremont-Lukats IW, Sulman EP, Aldape KD, Curran WJ Jr, Mehta MP. N Engl J Med. 2014 Feb 20;370(8):699-708. Genetics of rheumatoid arthritis contributes to biology and drug discovery. Okada Y, Wu D, Trynka G, Raj T, Terao C, Ikari K, Kochi Y, Ohmura K, Suzuki A, Yoshida S, Graham RR, Manoharan A, Ortmann W, Bhangale T, Denny JC, Carroll RJ, Eyler AE, Greenberg JD, Kremer JM, Pappas DA, Jiang L, Yin J, Ye L, Su DF, Yang J, Xie G, Keystone E, Westra HJ, Esko T, Metspalu A, Zhou X, Gupta N, Mirel D, Stahl EA, Diogo D, Cui J, Liao K, Guo MH, Myouzen K, Kawaguchi T, Coenen MJ, van Riel PL, van de Laar MA, Guchelaar HJ, Huizinga TW, Dieudé P, Mariette X, Bridges SL Jr, Zhernakova A, Toes RE, Tak PP, Miceli-Richard C, Bang SY, Lee HS, Martin J, Gonzalez-Gay MA, Rodriguez-Rodriguez L, Rantapää-Dahlqvist S, Arlestig L, Choi HK, Kamatani Y, Galan P, Lathrop M, RACI consortium, GARNET consortium, Eyre S, Bowes J, Barton A, de Vries N, Moreland LW, Criswell LA, Karlson EW, Taniguchi A, Yamada R, Kubo M, Liu JS, Bae SC, Worthington J, Padyukov L, Klareskog L, Gregersen PK, Raychaudhuri S, Stranger BE, De Jager PL, Franke L, Visscher PM, Brown MA, Yamanaka H, Mimori T, Takahashi A, Xu H, Behrens TW, Siminovitch KA, Momohara S, Matsuda F, Yamamoto K, Plenge RM. Nature. 2014 Feb 20;506(7488):376-81.
ITM investigators conduct research at the University of Chicago Medical Campus and with collaborators from other institutions. Photo by Sara Serritella.
R Studio
Profiles
Only about 16.8 percent of research project applications in fiscal year 2013 received funding from the NIH - the lowest success rate seen in more than 40 years. ITM’s R Studio will connect investigators with senior reviewers to gain feedback specific to R applications and ensure the strongest possible submission is sent to the NIH. Be on the lookout for an official launch this fiscal year.
Learn how to update your research profile featured on NIH-funded open source software developed by Harvard Catalyst: The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center. This networking platform connects you with researchers, allows you to search electronic CVs, build professional networks, and more. Check your inbox soon for a detailed guide on how to get started.
SIRT3 deacetylates and activates OPA1 to regulate mitochondrial dynamics during stress. Samant SA, Zhang HJ, Hong Z, Pillai VB, Sundaresan NR, Wolfgeher D, Archer SL, Chan DC, Gupta MP. Mol Cell Biol. 2014 Mar;34(5):807-19. Racial disparities in olfactory loss among older adults in the United States. Pinto JM, Schumm LP, Wroblewski KE, Kern DW, McClintock MK J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2014 Mar;69(3):323. PURLs: Finally, a way to relieve cancer-related fatigue. Mounsey A, Asher GN, Thomas GB J Fam Pract. 2014 May;63(5):270.
Innovative Seminars
PURLs: A simple way to reduce catheter-associated UTIs. Stevermer JJ, Nguyen L, Pereira S J Fam Pract. 2014 May;63(5):E10.
Interested in hearing how researchers are building customized bones from patients’ stem cells? The ways investigators are applying their lab discoveries to improve lives? The ITM will launch translational seminars led by experts from around the world who are doing this work. Look forward to dynamic presentations, discussions, and the generation of new ideas. Send ITM an email if you are interested in attending the inaugural session or if there is someone you would like to hear from at an upcoming event.
PURLs: It’s time to use an age-based approach to D-dimer. Stevermer JJ, Kirley K, Urban K J Fam Pract. 2014 Mar;63(3):155. Latent profile analysis of eating episodes in anorexia nervosa. Goldschmidt AB, Mitchell JE, Engel SG, Crosby RD, Wonderlich SA, Cao L, Lavender JM, Crow SJ, Peterson CB, Le Grange D J Psychiatr Res. 2014 Jun;53:193.
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Copyright 2014
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO INSTITUTE FOR TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE (ITM) ITM Leadership Team Julian Solway, MD, Director Lainie Ross, MD, PhD, Co-Director Bushra Rehman, MPA, Administrative Director Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD, Associate Director Harold Pollack, PhD, Associate Director Sonja Johnson-Hall, Associate Administrative Director Michael Quinn, PhD, Evaluation and Tracking Manager Sara Serritella, Communications Manager ITM Administrative Team Sonya Redmond-Head, Career Award Program Administrator Chartay T. Robinson, Community Program Development Specialist Tonirenee Shaw, Fiscal Analyst Address 5841 S. Maryland Ave. Q301, MC 7100 Chicago, IL 60637 Phone 773-702-6739 Stay in Touch Be the first to know about translational science breakthroughs, seminars, funding opportunities, training and more by signing up for ITM’s weekly newsletters here. For the latest daily ITM and global science updates, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
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