Translational Research Support Core

Translational Research Support

The Translational Research Support Core (TRSC) plays a key role in the research pursued in CEED by supporting the design and implementation of innovative “research that matters” for communities in NJ and beyond. TRSC offers expertise on planning and conducting research across the NIEHS translational research framework. . Informed by basic laboratory research within CEED and concerns of community members, TRSC facilitates research through the design and execution of:

  • population/observational epidemiology,
  • clinical trials and intervention studies, and
  • implementation of meaningful results. 

Translational Research Support Group

Photo of Kathleen Black Ph.D.
Kathleen Black, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate EOHSI – Clinical Research and Occupational Medicine
Photo of Nancy Fiedler PhD
Nancy Fiedler, PhD
Rutgers-SPHEnvironmental and Occupational Health
Photo of Pamela Ohman-Strickland PhD
Pamela Ohman-Strickland, PhD
Rutgers-SPHBiostatistics

Core Directors

Photo of Howard Kipen MD, MPH
Howard Kipen, MD, MPH
Rutgers-SPHEnvironmental and Occupational Health
Photo of Judith Graber PhD
Judith Graber, PhD
Rutgers-SPHEpidemiology
Photo of Robert Laumbach MD, MPH
Robert Laumbach, MD, MPH
Director Rutgers-SPHEnvironmental and Occupational Health

TRSC assists researchers by identifying and addressing obstacles and challenges that impede translation. Thus, TRSC facilitates CEED’s capabilities in dissemination and implementation science and informs implementation strategies to ensure that the novel interventions and evaluations developed by CEED researchers are adopted and used effectively to improve public health.

Current Projects

In 2019, Zarbl and R. Laumbach received support from the NJ ACTS Pilot Grant Program for their studies “Healthy Air and Healthy Eating: Encouraging a Culture of Health in Elizabeth NJ” which helped strengthen CEED’s partnership with our community partner, Groundwork Elizabeth. They piloted the integration of the community gardening program with a program to assess and communicate about local air quality and its potential effects on asthma.

Howard Kipen serves as Co-Lead of the NJ ACTS Patient Clinical Interaction Core and N. Fielder oversees the Regulatory Core. The EOHSI clinic is one of five clinical research units within the CTSA highlighting the importance of CEED in NJ-based clinical trials. We leverage this partnership in the newly designed TRSC under Howard Kipen’s direction.

Core Focus

TRSC facilitates research through the design and execution of 1) population/observational epidemiology, 2) clinical trials and intervention studies, and 3) implementation of meaningful results.

TRSC offers an array of services including design of human/population studies; screening, recruitment, and retention of subjects for panel studies, trials, and cohorts; management of protocols and data to ensure regulatory compliance; collection of biospecimens; and data analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of study findings. TRSC also provides field support for study management, survey research, and environmental and biospecimen collection, as well as sample storage within a state-of-the art sample management system.  As part of our team of researchers, Andrew Gow is translating his laboratory biomarkers of pulmonary and systemic inflammation into  human studies of the mechanism of carbon dioxide induced acute cognitive dysfunction.

Close relationships with local communities will enhance TRSC’s capacity to accelerate translation of research findings to people who live/work in settings that put them at increased risk of exposure to hazards using evidence-based implementation science approaches. TRSC will ensure rigorous and comprehensive support for research involving human participants and community partners.

Integration of Basic Science and Public Health Research

TRSC will provide CEED members with access to services designed to facilitate and support hypothesis-driven translational research including, but not liimited to:

  • Study design consultation
  • Study coordination and implementation
  • Human Participants Protection
  • Investigator training

Procedures facilitated by the core include:

  • Phlebotomy
  • Continuous ECG recordings
  • Continuous ambulatory blood pressure, central arterial blood pressure and pulse wave analysis
  • Collection of oral material for genotyping
  • Cognitive testing in adults

Translational Research Support Core Pricing

  • Consultation – No charge to Center members
  • Sample Management System Administration
    • First year – $2,800 – included access, annual administrative costs and training for lab manager
    • Annual (year 2 and later) – $1,030
  • All other TRSC services (IRB, study coordination, screening, subject interaction, etc.) are billed at an hourly rate of $67/hour. Please ask for a consultation to receive a quote.

 

TRSC works closely with the EOHSI Occupational Health Clinical Center (EOHCC) which provides health services to employees within Rutgers Biomedical Health Sciences (RBHS). Consultation regarding planning of research and support of grant applications is provided at no cost to CEED members or those using services to become members or writing pilot project grant applications. Staff time, including nursing and phlebotomy services, data entry, cleaning, and analysis, as well as cost of supplies more than that provided in the TRSC budget, are charged back to CEED investigators at cost. Costs are also recovered by inclusion of TRSC staff salaries on extramural grant budgets. 

Since the initiation of the NJ Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJ ACTS), members of CEED have leveraged their long-standing expertise in translational research to advance the goals of the CTSA Hub. TRSC, with the Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) Clinical Center, is one of five Clinical Research Centers of NJ ACTS. Through this partnership, TRSC has been able to extend the reach of its services by increasing access to populations and cohorts, as well as informatics tools that enable broader recruitment of participants into studies in the past few years.

TRSC by the Numbers

Cllinical Translational Studies
53
IRB Submissions/Modifications
441
Study Participants
2283
Study Visits
3453
Principal Investigators
26
Clinical Trials Registered at clinicaltrials.gov
4
Publications Supported
62
Staff Authored Publications
20

Recent Core Publications

Laumbach RJ, Mainelis G, Black KG, Myers NT, Ohman-Strickland P, Alimokhtari S, Hastings S, Legard A, de Resende A, Calderón L, Lu FT, Kipen HM. Presence of SARS-CoV-2 Aerosol in Residences of Adults with COVID-19. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2022 Feb;19(2):338-341. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202107-847RL. PMID: 34762562; PMCID: PMC8867362.

Graber JM, Black TM, Shah NN, Caban-Martinez AJ, Lu SE, Brancard T, Yu CH, Turyk ME, Black K, Steinberg MB, Fan Z, Burgess JL. Prevalence and Predictors of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Serum Levels among Members of a Suburban US Volunteer Fire Department. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 2;18(7):3730. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18073730. PMID: 33918459; PMCID: PMC8038206.

Myers NT, Laumbach RJ, Black KG, Ohman-Strickland P, Alimokhtari S, Legard A, De Resende A, Calderón L, Lu FT, Mainelis G, Kipen HM. Portable air cleaners and residential exposure to SARS-CoV-2 aerosols: A real-world study. Indoor Air. 2022 Apr;32(4):e13029. doi: 10.1111/ina.13029. PMID: 35481935; PMCID: PMC9111720.

Ji N, Fang M, Baptista A, Cepeda C, Greenberg M, Mincey IC, Ohman-Strickland P, Haynes F, Fiedler N, Kipen HM, Laumbach RJ. Exposure to traffic-related air pollution and changes in exhaled nitric oxide and DNA methylation in arginase and nitric oxide synthase in children with asthma. Environ Health. 2021 Feb 11;20(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s12940-020-00678-8. PMID: 33573660; PMCID: PMC7879528.

Caruth J, Black K, Legard A, De Resende A, Getz K, Borowski M, Debilio L, Brewer A, Kipen H, Udasin IG, Graber JM. Incidence and Predictors of COVID-19 Infection in Prison Healthcare Workers. J Occup Environ Med. 2023 Jul 1;65(7):573-579. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002836. Epub 2023 Mar 7. PMID: 36882811; PMCID: PMC10329989.

 

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