Clinical and Translational Research Support Core
The two objectives of the Clinical and Translational Research Support Core are to:
- ensure that all funded research projects involving human participants have sufficient numbers of well-characterized individuals to fulfill the projects' primary aims; and
- provide access and information resources that will support investigators of all types who have clinical and/or translational research interests.
The Clinical and Translational Research Support Core recruits participants from a wide range of populations. The Core verifies that participants meet appropriate diagnostic criteria, provides assessments of basic cognitive and language levels as needed for individual projects, and in some cases conducts preliminary training to prepare participants for the testing requirements of the research project.
To ensure sufficient participant recruitment, the Clinical and Translational Research Support Core provides five principal services:
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Recruitment of participants;
Assessment (including health screening), and preparation of participants for projects on an as-needed basis;
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Tracking of all participants recruited into different projects, and developing a database of specialized populations;
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Quality control, including project support/review by a multidisciplinary team of experts in research, developmental disabilities, and clinical studies issues.
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Coordination of interactions with the UMMS IRB, which includes advising investigators on approaches to present clear, complete, unambiguous proposals that do not require numerous submissions to achieve IRB approval.
To support investigators of all types who have clinical and/or translational research interests, this Core provides:
- Formalized Access to Clinicians, Clinician/Scientists and Human Participant Populations, a service that allows individuals with little or no clinical/translational research experience to access the MRDDRC’s wealth of knowledge and resources that could potentially support research in this area. A major component of this service is a research review opportunity whereby investigators may have their research programs, ongoing and planned, supported and critiqued with respect to issues relating to the inclusion of human participants.
- A Clinical Research Resource Information and Coordination component, one purpose of which is to evaluate, publicize, and assist in the coordination of access to local, regional, and national resources that could potentially enhance the MRDDRC’s clinical and translational research programs. Another purpose is to assist researchers who have conducted primarily basic research in collaboration with clinical researchers to evaluate research hypotheses that may introduce a translational or clinical dimension to their programs.
Clinical and Translational Research Support Core Staffing
Dr. Kathleen Braden
(Director) is a developmental pediatrician with 20 years of experience in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. She oversees all operations of the Core to ensure that its main objectives are met.
Dr. Richard Serna
(Co-Director) has an extensive background in behavioral assessments of the type to be accomplished, and he is experienced in using relational database software. He oversees the design and operations for database tracking, and coordinates the human participants and assessment needs of the MRDDRC’s behavioral investigators.
Dr. Edward Ginns
(Co-Director) is a senior neurologist with extensive expertise in neurogenetics and a long-demonstrated commitment to interdisciplinary, translational and clinical research. In addition to providing direction of the Core, Dr. Ginns provides consultation on neurological issues and genetics testing, as necessary.