Research

Funding: NHLBI
Investigator(s): Ramachandran, V

The Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal (RURAL) Cohort Study, coordinated by Vasan Ramachandran, MD, at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), is a six-year research project seeking to understand why people born in rural communities in the South live shorter and less healthy lives than do their counterparts elsewhere in the country. 

Funding: NIDDK
Investigators: Dember, L.M.

The CRIC study is an NIDDK-funded longitudinal cohort study established in 2001 with the Scientific and Data Coordinating Center (SDCC) located at Penn (Dember, L.M., PI). The original aim of CRIC was to establish a clinical research laboratory designed to (a) identify novel predictors of CKD progression, and (b) characterize the manifestations of CVD and identify its risk factors among individuals with CKD.

Funding: NIDDK
Investigator: Landis, JR

The Clinical Research Computing Unit (CRCU) in its role as the Data Coordinating Core (DCC) for the MAPP Research Network, provides overall coordination, logistical support, and implementation for all aspects of the study protocol including data collection, data processing, tracking of participant recruitment, tracking of specimens, training, quality assurance, and statistical analysis, through its clinical data management, project management, and software systems development teams.

The Scientific and Data Coordinating Center at Penn receives data and provides ongoing support for a number of Ancillary Studies supported by the CRIC Cohort utilizing both CRIC study participants and biological samples obtained from CRIC study participants. Through the CRIC data sharing policy, investigators have an opportunity to tap into the rich CRIC data to pursue their own research goals.

In addition to the CRIC Clinical Centers listed on the Participating Institutions page, collaborative research partnerships are currently conducted at a number of institutions across the country including, but not limited to, University of Utah, University of Miami, University of North Carolina, George Washington University, University of Alabama, as well as at international sites in China, Japan, Peru, and Germany 

A selection of CRIC Ancillary Studies managed by the CRCU appears below:

Funding: NIDDK
Investigator: Reese, P; Schaubel, D; Goldberg, D

The CRCU serves as the Data Coordinating Center for the THINKER-NEXT trial. The THINKER-NEXT trial, led by Peter Reese, MD and Douglas Schaubel PhD at The Perelman School of Medicine and David Goldberg, MD at the University of Miami in Florida, is a single arm open-label NIDDK-funded clinical trial.  The main objective of the study is to estimate the hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure rate after transplantation, using kidneys from HCV-infected deceased donors for HCV-negative recipients, followed by treatment with direct acting antivirals

Funding: NIDDK
Investigators: Dember, LM; Landis, JR

The CRCU serves as the Data Coordinating Center for the Hemodialysis Novel Therapies Consortium (HDNT) - a partnership between four highly-regarded clinical centers, the University of Pennsylvania, and the National Institutes of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). The HDNT Consortium was established by the (NIDDK) to design and conduct pilot and feasibility studies of novel therapies to reduce morbidity and mortality for patients treated with maintenance hemodialysis.

Funding: PCORI
Investigator: Neuman, MD

The University of Pennsylvania, with funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), has designed the Regional vs. General Anesthesia for Promoting Independence after Hip Fracture Surgery (REGAIN) clinical research trial to determine whether one type of standard care anesthesia given to patients undergoing surgery for a hip fracture leads to better outcomes in recovery of walking, overall health and disability, pain, and survival.  This trial will enroll more than 2000 patients in over 25 cities in the United States and Canada.

Funding: NICHD
Investigators: Kirpalani, HM; Ratcliffe, SJ

The CRCU functions as a Data Coordinating Center for the Sustained Aeration of Infant Lungs (SAIL) Trial, a multi-national prospective randomized controlled study. SAIL consists of 21 participating Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) in the USA, Canada, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Singapore and South Korea.

Funding: NHLBI
Investigators: Schmidt, BK; Bellamy, SL; Ellenberg, JH

The primary goal of the PROP studies (single center and multicenter protocols) is to identify biomarkers (biochemical, physiological and genetic) and clinical variables that are associated with and thus potentially predictive of pulmonary status in preterm infants up to 1 year corrected age.  An objective and validated measure of pulmonary outcome at 1 year does not currently exist.   Some promising measures are in development but not yet ready for use in a multi-center large clinical study.

Funding: National Eye Institue
Investigator: Maguire, MG

The DREAM study is a set of two multicenter randomized placebo controlled clinical trials designed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of omega 3 fatty acid supplementation for treatment of patients with mild to moderate dry eye disease (DED).