Translational Research Support Core

Establishing a multi-directional alignment, the TRSC will work in conjunction with the Community Engagement Core (CEC) to help bridge the gap between researchers and affected communities by working with the four Research Interest Groups and will provide logistical and operational support for project ideas and concepts that are derived from the community engagement efforts. The Pilot Project Program (PPP) will link core resources to new and evolving studies pilot projects so that they may access key services and tasks for project completion via study support mechanisms in the TRSC. The Analytical Core (AC) draws on expertise in analytical chemistry, mass spectrometry, and biostatistics for quantitation of relevant analytes in complex biological and environmental samples.

The TRSCbenefits from several key available resources on our campus that facilitate research. These include the NIH-funded Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) grants, the UK Superfund Research Center (UK-SRC), the Human Studies Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and the NCI-designated Markey Cancer Center (MCC). Rather than replicating the established abilities of these other sites, the TRSC will complement their functions with specific efforts to promote EHS studies in humans via targeted assistance to minimize the barriers for projects to proceed.

It is important to clarify that the TRSC has the primary mission to catalyze EHS translational and clinical studies, and that no entity on our campus currently serves this important mission. Furthermore, we realize that to have maximum impact, the TRSC will need to coordinate its efforts and leverage the presence of these other entities to achieve its goals. In many cases, the TRSC will access (e.g. purchase) key services that are in place via these other programs as appropriate. Drs. Bauer and Sanderson and the TRSC Oversight and Utilization Committee members all have excellent working relationships with these other campus resources, and therefore we are confident that the TRSC will serve an important and unique function in our University of Kentucky research community.

The TRSC is structured as both a central portal for investigators across the spectrum of research and a bridge to services within UK-CARES and elsewhere in order remove barriers. In addition, to build on fresh perspectives that are emerging in any given area and to capitalize on promising strategies that may address critical barriers to progress, the TRSC will work directly with investigators from the four Research Interest Groups (Cardiopulmonary Diseases, Metabolic Disorders, Cancer, and Child Health and Early Life Exposures) to identify projects with strong potential for translation, identify researchers with different types of expertise but complementary potential, and assist in making connections among them.

The TRSC will play an active role in continuing development of these transdisciplinary research teams as they refine a novel concept and the research direction evolves. At that stage, the TRSC and individual research team will work together to determine the nature of services required and employ a body of highly skilled facilitators who serve as first line coordinators of service access and delivery.