THE ITM INVESTIGATOR Year in Review Issue I
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THE ITM
INVESTIGATOR
Year in Review 2013 - 2014
Issue I
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, analy-
sis 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 investi-
gator’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 & Lainie Ross, MD, PhD
ITM Director 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.
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Researchers collect samples at UChicago laboratories. Medical images are just one of many things being ITM investigators gather to discuss the latest in 3-D
Photo by Sara Serritella. analyzed at UChicago labs like those of ITM investigator printing from NorthShore University HealthSystem in
and medical physicist Maryellen Giger, PhD. June. Photo by Sara Serritella.
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
3
ITM PILOT AWARDS
ITM AWARDS MORE THAN $650,000 IN PILOT
FUNDING IN 2013 - 2014
The ITM gave $681,763 in Pilot and allow trainees or researchers to Awards (CTSA) consortium that totaling more than $2.75 million.
Award funding to more than a generate preliminary data critical to helps convert biomedical research
dozen investigators in the last fiscal securing subsequent funding from into health improvement. Since 2007, total funding for the
year, which ran from July 2013 to the National Institutes of Health ITM exceeds $50 million from
July 2014. (NIH) and other organizations. During the last eight years, the ITM the NIH’s National Center for
has connected more than 1,800 Advancing Translational Sciences
The ITM’s Pilot Award Program The ITM also supports projects that investigators with funding, training, (NCATS) CTSA grant numbers
awards investigators seed funding will stimulate community-engaged and other resources while forging UL1 TR000430, KL2 TR000431,
four times a year for promising research and improve clinical de- connections across departments, and TL1 TR000432, and from the
translational and clinical research sign, biostatistics, ethics, informat- universities, and patient advocacy University of Chicago Medicine
projects. ics, or regulatory pathways. groups. and Biological Sciences.
This program supports projects that The ITM is a member of the NIH Between 2008 and 2011 alone, the Learn more by visiting
promote early career development Clinical and Translational Science ITM awarded 60 Pilot Award grants itm.uchicago.edu.
ITM LAUNCHES NEW PILOT FUNDING
MECHANISM FOR TECHNOLOGY &
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
This past fiscal year the ITM Applications are evaluated based
launched a new Pilot Award in on:
DON’T MISS partnership with UChicagoTech to
provide up to $40,000 to research
• The novelty, innovation, and
multidisciplinary aspects of
UPCOMING projects that could lead to
commercialization. •
the project.
The likelihood the proposal
ITM FUNDING Submitting an application is a
will result in future outside
funding or a partnership with
DEADLINES win-win situation for investigators,
who have the benefit of receiving •
a commercial organization.
The potential the proposed
detailed feedback from both inter- research has for impacting
nal academic reviewers and external the diagnosis or treatment of
PILOT AWARDS: reviewers, such as entrepreneurs, human disease.
Up to $40,000 representatives from pharmaceutical
October 15 companies, venture capitalists, and Awardees may be assigned one or
others. two industry members to provide
January 15 ongoing consultation.
“This is a unique mechanism to
CORE SUBSIDIES: support early translational research “We’re not just pushing the science
that’s leading towards a develop- forward, but we’re also making sure
Up to $5,000 ment of a product or service,” said the technology is advancing toward
Rolling Heather Walsh, assistant director the marketplace,” Walsh said.
of UChicagoTech. “It’s designed
for investigators to get that vital The first recipient will be
COMMUNITY MINI-AWARDS: external feedback earlier in the pro- announced soon, and the next
Up to $5,000 cess so they can focus on the right deadline for applications is Oct. 15.
Rolling experiments.”
Visit ITM’s website for details or reach Heather Walsh
at hwalsh@tech.uchicago.edu.
4
ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES
INVESTIGATOR WORKING TO CURE
AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES & END
ORGAN TRANSPLANT REJECTION
“We need to show those agencies team uses leukapheresis to acquire
that we are capable of manufac- Tregs from patients’ blood at the
turing those cells in a safe and sampling stage, whereas Trzon-
reproducible way, meeting all their kowski and Bluestone collect 500
standards,” said Witkowski, who is milliliters of blood per patient and
also the director of the University isolate the Tregs afterwards.
of Chicago Medicine’s Pancreatic
and Islet Transplant Program. “It’s a “Although it’s optimized, the whole
long process to get the approval.” process is not stable because it’s
based on the way the cells grow
One of Witkowski’s collaborators outside the body, in artificial
in Europe, Piotr Trzonkowski, MD, conditions,” he said. “Cells are like
PhD, of the Medical University of human bodies: Sometimes they
Gdansk, implemented the world’s respond, sometimes they don’t re-
first successful human therapy based spond…We are starting with higher
on ex-vivo Treg cell expansion. The numbers at the beginning, so we
duo is also working with Jeffrey could get more consistent results.”
(L - R): Piotr Witkowski, MD, PhD; Karolina Golab, MS, PhD student, Treg project specialist; Sabarinathan Ram-
achandran, PhD, director of the islet isolation laboratories; Zehra Tekin, MD, postdoctoral research scholar; Omid Bluestone, PhD, a well-recognized
Savari, MD, postdoctoral research scholar; Randall Grose, PhD, Treg project specialist; Paulina Langa, MS, visiting immunologist and Treg leader who And the extent of the expansion
PhD student from the lab of Piotr Trzonkowski, MD, PhD, overseas. Photo by Sara Serritella.
is also the executive vice chancellor matters because of the different
and provost at the University of applications.
By Sara Serritella autoimmune diseases and the body
California, San Francisco (UCSF).
from rejecting organ transplants. As
Bluestone, who previously served Witkowski’s collaborators are focus-
Between 14 to 22 million people part of this ex-vivo process, he col-
as the director of the University of ing on patients who were recently
in the United States suffer from lects the blood, separates the white
Chicago’s Ben May Department for diagnosed with diabetes and still
autoimmune diseases, such as type blood cells through leukapheresis
Cancer Research, recently complet- have some healthy groups of cells,
1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and and grows the number of Tregs to
ed a Phase 1 clinical trial using Treg known as islets, that are producing
rheumatoid arthritis, according to 1,000 times the sample size in his
expansion technology in patients insulin. Their goal is to protect
the National Institutes of Health laboratory.
with new-onset diabetes using Treg those remaining healthy islets from
(NIH), with the medical cost of
expansion technology. complete destruction by infusing
treating type 1 diabetes and mul- “Those cells have great potential,”
tiple sclerosis alone topping more Witkowski said. “Once the produc- ...Continued on page 6.
While they are
than $7 billion each year. tion of the Tregs is optimized and
all collaborat-
they’re available for clinical appli-
ing, each of
But with the help of an ITM Pilot cation, we can test it for different
them developed
Award, Piotr Witkowski, MD, autoimmune diseases. So this is a
slightly different
PhD, is one step closer to curing big window of opportunity.”
Treg processing
those conditions – and ending the
procedures look-
body’s rejection of organ trans- His goal is to use the data gathered
ing for optimal
plants. from the ITM Pilot Project to gain
conditions to
approval from the U.S. Food and
achieve the same
In November 2010, Witkowski and Drug Administration and Institu-
end product:
his team initiated the development tional Review Board (IRB) so they
pure and stable
and optimization of expanding the can collect Tregs, expand them in
Treg cells in suf-
number of regulatory T cells (Tregs) his laboratory setting, and transfer
ficient numbers.
outside the body in his laboratory. those multiplied Tregs into the
patients they originated from as one
For example,
Tregs are cells that hold the im- of the first U.S. clinical trials of its
Witkowski’s Members of Witkowski’s lab are trying to cure autoimmune diseases.
mune system in balance, preventing kind. Photo by Sara Serritella.
5
ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES
...Continued from page 5.
patients with their own Tregs that But the doctors still have to use the
were expanded in the laboratory. same immunosuppressant medi-
cations normally prescribed after
In contrast, Witkowski is planning whole organ transplantation to
to use Tregs to protect transplanted protect the donor islets from being
pancreatic islets. rejected, Witkowski said. So the
Tregs and their immunoprotective
He retrieves those islets from a ability could act as an effective,
deceased donor’s pancreas and less toxic alternative because the
transplants them into “brittle” type expanded cells would originate from
1 diabetic patients whose own islets the bloodstream of the patient.
vanished years ago from the disease.
Islet transplantation is a new, alter- Witkowski said the ITM Pilot
native procedure to transplanting Award was one of many necessary
the whole pancreas. pieces that came together to help
him apply for the next research
“Instead of a big operation with a stage, as the testing and certifica-
high rate of complications, we’re tion behind clinical grade reagents Witkowski’s research team meets in his laboratory. Photo by Sara Serritella.
giving patients a similar outcome makes them far more expensive could proceed and get to the point Grant, NP; and a team of nurses
just by infusing those islets into the than basic research reagents. His where I am now.” from the ITM’s Clinical Research
bloodstream as a minimally invasive team is currently generating its data Center (CRC), has been optimizing
procedure,” Witkowski said. and will be applying for approval Witkowski, together with a team of islet transplantation procedures
for clinical trials from the FDA this diabetologists that include: Louis that Witkowski said he is looking
And his patients’ lives have been year. Philipson, MD, PhD, and director forward to combining with the new
changed, allowing most of them of the University of Chicago Kovler Treg therapy.
much better control over their “It takes time and money to imple- Diabetes Center; Silvana Pannain,
blood glucose levels - and at least ment the technology and optimize MD, Assistant Professor of Medi- Reach Piotr Witkowski at
half go off insulin injections within the production,” Witkowski said. cine; Colleen Flynn, MD, Assistant pwitkowski@surgery.bsd.uchicago.
five years. “And thanks to ITM’s support, I Professor of Medicine; Tiffany
FELLOW IDENTIFIES IMMUNE DYSFUNCTION
AS A RISK FACTOR FOR LONG-TERM MORTALITY
FROM STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS BACTEREMIA
By Sara Serritella tients who are at the highest risk for bacteremia at the University of
long-term mortality after sepsis. Chicago hospital and found that
Each year more than 650,000 U.S. clinical immunosuppression prior
patients are affected by severe sepsis, “We’re trying to figure out why to infection was a risk factor for
a process by which an infection people who survive a severe infec- 31- to 90-day mortality, but not
leads to deregulated inflammation tion have a higher mortality than 30-day mortality. He is now using Jared Greenberg, MD. Photo provided.
throughout the entire body. About their counterparts,” Greenberg said. the ITM Pilot award to measure
20 percent of these patients - more “While there are algorithms to treat immune markers among a group of Additionally, clinical trials for pa-
than 120,000 - die in the hospital. sepsis in the first 24 hours, there prospectively enrolled patients with tients with sepsis may have greater
is really no way to identify people Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. chance of success if they only enroll
Among those who survive the initial who are going to have complica- high-risk patients.”
hospitalization, about 25 percent tions afterward.” “I’m hoping to be able to use
die within the following year. clinical and biochemical factors to Greenberg became interested in
Greenberg chose to focus on Staphy- risk stratify patients who survive an the immunosuppressed population
ITM awarded Jared Greenberg, a lococcus aureus bacteremia because it infectious process,” Greenberg said. during his residency at Emory
University of Chicago Medicine is a common infection that typically “Clinicians could use this informa- University in Atlanta, a region
Fellow in the Section of Pulmonary causes a systemic inflammatory tion to have heightened vigilance where there was a large population
and Critical Care Medicine, a Pilot response. He initially reviewed 237 for clinical changes among patients of people infected with HIV.
Award to investigate the types of pa- patients with Staphylococcus aureus with a high risk for poor outcomes. ...Continued on page 7.
6
ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES
...Continued from page 6.
“I found it really interesting that Greenberg was the first author on a in July and plans to work on a K23 “Without the ITM Pilot Award
when patients with HIV would paper highlighting his grant application. money, it would be difficult to do
come to the Intensive Care Unit, Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia this initial research.”
they would often be sick with in- findings that was published in Feb- “It’s going to be very important
fections associated with prolonged ruary 2014 by the Public Library of when I apply for my K Award to Connect with Jared Greenberg
healthcare exposure instead of Science (PLoS One). have this preliminary data,” at
unusual, opportunistic infections,” Greenberg said. Jared.Greenberg@uchospitals.edu.
he said. He said he returned to clinical work
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 Harold Pollack, PhD, co-director of the UChicago Crime Lab and associate director of the ITM.
school students in major cities grad- of targeted interventions over the Photo by Kyle Zimmerman.
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 Students’ math scores also improved helped the Crime Lab quickly add
be up to seven grade levels behind South Side - and it led to a decrease by the equivalent of about three the second prong – an intensive
in subjects like math. in school misconduct, course fail- years’-worth of learning. math tutoring component based
ures, absenteeism and violent crime. on the model of Boston’s Match
The interventions involved a two- Education.
pronged approach.
“The ITM Pilot funding really
The non-academic prong was the allowed us to take that next step to
Becoming a Man (BAM) program, see what we could get by including
developed and implemented by this tutoring,” Pollack said. “What
Chicago nonprofit Youth Guidance, we found were very significant
which focuses on social-cognitive benefits to the pilot intervention
skills and is based on cognitive be- and dramatic improvement in kids’
havioral therapy (CBT). BAM also school performance, which provid-
included an after-school sports pro- ed the basis for an NIH grant. This
gram, offered in partnership with grant will support the expansion of
nonprofit World Sport Chicago. the BAM and Match programs as
well as our current larger-scale study
Pollack said the ITM’s funding of these programs, in turn growing
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. ...Continued on page 8.
7
ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES
...Continued from page 7.
the impact of this work to benefit unique is that it is evaluating its in-
not only Chicago but also other terventions using the same rigorous WATCH THE VIDEO
cities as well.” methods applied to clinical trials in
medical research. Hear about the impact the University of Chicago
The P01 grant from the NIH’s Eu- Crime Lab is having in the words of the student
nice Kennedy Shriver National In- And the data speaks for itself. participants and tutors by watching this video.
stitute of Child Health and Human
Development awarded the Crime The interventions increased expect-
Lab $6 million and Chicago Public ed graduation rates by about 50 attended per year – all of which ITM really helped make possible,”
Schools pro- researchers said would have Pollack said, with publications like
vided the BAM “The kids have to be tough. an impact on violence. The New York Times covering the
and Match project and U.S. and international
programs with They don’t have a lot of margin for Based on an almost 70 agencies reaching out to collaborate.
$4 million. The percent reduction in school
Crime Lab also error, academically or in many other misconduct in a compara- While the research team got a lot
earned $1 mil-
lion as one of
areas in their lives, and so we want tive trial, researchers predict
a decrease in violent crime
of credit for the data, Pollack said
there were many other people in-
seven nonprof- to give them a realistic way to follow arrests over the next two volved in the schools who changed
its worldwide years by an estimated 50 to the students’ lives.
recognized with a road map.” 60 percent and a drop in
a 2014 MacAr- drug-related arrests by about “Our partners just did an amazing
thur Award for - Harold Pollack, PhD 40 to 50 percent. job implementing the intervention,”
Creative and Pollack said. “They deserve to see
Effective Institutions. percent, decreased course failures “We got a lot of attention for the the value of their work noted.”
by about 60 percent and resulted results that we achieved with our
What makes the Crime Lab’s work in about 2.5 more weeks of school pilot, and that was something the Those collaborators included the
Crime Lab’s multidisciplinary
team of economists, public health
researchers, psychologists and edu-
cation experts, along with Chicago
Public Schools, the Chicago Police
Department, the City of Chicago
and nonprofit partners Match Edu-
cation 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 peo-
ple 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 evi-
dence-informed interventions, we
can really make a difference for kids
in Chicago and in every other city
across the United States.”
Reach Harold Pollack at
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.
haroldp@uchicago.edu.
8
ITM PILOT AWARDEE UPDATES
ECHO-CHICAGO EXPANDS
ITS GEOGRAPHIC REACH
& TRAINING OFFERINGS
for new knowledge to practice nurses, and social workers.
trickle out. We’re able And its educational offerings have
to reduce that time by expanded from three to five subjects
bringing state-of-the- taught over 12 sessions.
art care to community
providers at the speed Those subjects now cover resistant
of light.” hypertension, pediatric ADHD,
risk-based approach to women’s
ECHO stands for health, hepatitis C, and pediatric
Extension of Com- obesity and comorbidities.
munity Healthcare
Outcomes, and its goal Finicia Graham, MD, practices
is to provide innovative family medicine at Beloved Com-
medical training using munity Family Wellness Center in
videoconferencing tech- Robbins, IL, and has participated
nology to break down in more than 30 ECHO-Chicago
the divisions between sessions.
primary and specialty
care. “ECHO has been an invaluable
resource for me, as it has provided
Andrew Aronsohn, MD, (L) leads an ECHO-Chicago telehealth session about hepatitis C with transplant pharmacist The first ECHO project a link to experts in the field and a
Lindsey Pote, PharmD, BCPS (R). Photo by Sara Serritella.
was born at the University of New chance to discuss common clinical
By Sara Serritella Mexico School of Medicine, and questions with colleagues,” Graham
ECHO-Chicago is one of 39 tele- said.
Patients who receive care at com- awardee ECHO-Chicago is
munity health centers often have changing that by expanding what “It normally takes years for new
limited access to subspecialists, started as medical training for six
research shows, and ITM Pilot federally qualified health centers on knowledge to trickle out. We’re...
Chicago’s South Side
to working with 22
bringing state-of-the-art care to com-
different organizations
across Chicagoland.
munity providers at the
speed of light.”
“We’re translating the
changes in medicine - Daniel Johnson, MD
more rapidly out to
community pro- ECHO hubs that run in 22 states And that’s part of the beauty of
viders,” said Daniel and six countries. the ECHO model, according to
Johnson, MD, the Johnson.
principal investigator But Chicago’s project is the first
for ECHO-Chicago, one to apply the model to an “It gets people talking,” he said.
associate professor of urban setting and continues to be “Because you’re in a virtual confer-
pediatrics and chief the most successful urban ECHO. ence room, it gives you the ability
of the Section of to look at people. When you can
Academic Pediatrics Over the past five years look at people, you can read body
at the University of ECHO-Chicago has trained language. When you can read body
Chicago Medicine. “It more than 250 providers, which language, you’re more likely to
Daniel Johnson, MD, is the principal investigator for normally takes years includes physicians, advanced speak. The person becomes more
ECHO-Chicago. Photo by UChicago Medicine.
...Continued on page 10.
9
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 hepatitis C, which is very prevalent UChicago’s program now has a Johnson said the ECHO-Chicago
opportunity for working together.” in the United States and is going to waitlist of providers who would like would not be where it is today
be better treated in a primary care to join in the telehealth sessions, without the early financial support
The ITM attended a recent session setting, is going to make a huge which are limited to less than 10 it received from the ITM’s Pilot
on hepatitis C, where about impact on treating the disease,” sites at a time – and it will be cover- Award.
six medical providers from the Aronsohn said at the end of the ing even more topics next year.
Chicagoland region listened to a session. “The funding was spectacular,”
presentation on new treatment ECHO-Chicago just came to an Johnson said. “It helped us to
methods from UChicago Medi- Researchers are already seeing those agreement with the American underwrite infrastructure so that we
cine’s Andrew Aronsohn, MD, an results. Academy of Pediatrics to launch could reach more providers.”
assistant professor, gastroenterolo- a program focused on pediatric
gist and hepatologist. Then they dis- According to a 2011 study pub- seizures, and there are plans to start
To get involved with
cussed the best ways to apply that lished in the New England Journal another addressing the best ways
ECHO-Chicago, contact
new information to treat specific of Medicine, ECHO has enabled to integrate mental health care into
Daniel Johnson at
patients. community primary care provid- the normal stream of health center
djohnson@peds.bsd.uchicago.edu.
ers to offer chronic disease care at activities.
“Empowering primary care doctors almost the same level as universi-
to be able to treat something like ty-based subspecialists.
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.
10NEW 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 Kate Keenan, PhD Depression Prevention Effects on
Phospholipids for Treatment of Acute Neural Processing of Emotion and
Lung Injury Reward Stimuli
Julie Chor, MD Conceptualizing the Full-Spectrum Dorit Koren, MD Sleep Habits in Adolescents and Type
Doula Model 2 Diabetes Risk
Emil F. Coccaro, MD Neurobehavioral Correlates of Central Yanchun Li, PhD Vitamin D Regulation of Systemic
Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines in Hu- Inflammation in Mice and Humans
man Aggression
Tina N. Drossos, PhD Emotional Intelligence and Regulation Jeremy Marks, MD, PhD Defining Characteristics of Epileptic
in Patients with T-2 Diabetes Human Cortex
Nickolai Dulin, PhD Regulation of Myofibroblast Differ- Patrick Singleton, PhD Peripheral MOR Antagonism as a
entiation and Pulmonary Fibrosis by Potential Therapeutic Strategy for
Cardiotonic Steroid, Digoxin Lung Cancer
Andrea B. Goldschmidt, PhD Executive Function in Overweight Bret Ulery, PhD Mixed Antigen/Adjuvant Micelles for
Children at Risk for Eating Single Administration Streptococcus
Disorders Vaccination
Christopher Gomez, MD Screening for Small Molecule Inhibi- Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD Automated Scoring of MIBG Scans
tors of a Novel Pathogenic Cistron to for Patients with Neuroblastoma
Treat SCA6 Ataxia
Nicholas Hatsopoulos, PhD Incorporation of Natural Censory Amittha Wickrema, PhD Mobilization of Chemokine Receptor
and Feedback to Improve Control of a CXCR4-Expressing Erythroid
Derek Kamper, PhD Crain-Cachine Interface for Grasp Progenitors in Blood
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
11NEW ITM AWARDEES
NEW PILOT ANDREA G. GOLDSCHMIDT
SPOTLIGHTS: NICKOLAI DULIN
Andrea G. Goldschmidt, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Nickolai Dulin, PhD, Associate Professor, Section of Pulmo-
Neuroscience and Co-Director of the Eating Disorders Program. Photo provided. nary and Critical Care Medicine. Photo provided.
Project Title: Project Title:
Executive function in overweight children at risk for eating disorders. 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 Pilot Project Goals:
binge eating. The project sets the stage for understanding the mechanisms There are no drugs currently available to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibro-
behind the binge eating so that effective interventions can be developed. sis, 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, “People breathe air, but their lungs cannot exchange the oxygen, and this wors-
Goldschmidt said, so the project uses functional magnetic resonance imag- ens with time. From the time of diagnosis, they have about two to three years to
ing, or fMRI, to see what is going on when they do. 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 Pilot Award Path:
be putting the cart before the horse….That’s where the cognitive piece comes About two years ago, Dulin made an observation that differentiation of
in, because inhibitory control is one factor that seems to go awry in these kids myofibroblasts, the pathologic cells driving pulmonary fibrosis, was blocked
and could lead to binge eating. They just can’t stop themselves from eating, even by cardiac glycosides, including digoxin - the FDA-approved drug for
when they don’t want to be eating.” treating heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias. He translated this observa-
tion into his current Pilot Award project: testing whether digoxin can also
ITM Impact: K Scholar be used to treat pulmonary fibrosis. Dulin is working with cultured human
Goldschmidt received a Pilot Award shortly after becoming part of the K12 lung fibroblasts and with mouse models of pulmonary fibrosis that the
program. She said it jump-started her career by increasing her knowledge in ITM funding supports. In preliminary experiments he found that digoxin
cognitive neuroscience, an area in which she had no prior training, and giv- administered at lower therapeutic dose levels drastically reduced pulmonary
ing her dedicated time for research and networking with important faculty fibrosis in the mouse models.
members in her field.
“We aim to establish the protective effect of digoxin and to understand the
“The K12 is the training piece and the Pilot Award is the implementation mechanism by which it works. The first part is clinically relevant, the second
piece... It’s great that these funds are available, especially to junior investigators, is scientifically relevant. But once we know the mechanisms, we can think of
because it is so hard and such a long process to get NIH funding – and you often maybe even better drugs that work the same way.”
need preliminary data to put in your grant application.”
Pilot Project Traction:
K Scholar Traction: Dulin applied for an NIH R01 grant in June, 2014, and plans to submit his
Goldschmidt has already been first author on three articles published while first manuscript on this subject in September or October 2014.
funded by the K12 program: Latent Profile Analysis of Eating Episodes in
Anorexia Nervosa, Predictors of Child Weight Loss and Maintenance Among “The ITM funding is a huge help, especially with the limited funding from the
Family-Based Treatment Completers, and Ecological Momentary Assessment of NIH nowadays. And the ITM reviewers’ comments were very helpful, not only
Eating Episodes in Obese Adults. She also applied for an NIH K Award in to improve this study but also to prepare for a more expanded R01 application.”
June.
Collaborate with Andrea Goldschmidt by emailing her at Collaborate with Nickolai Dulin by emailing him
agoldscm@bsd.uchicago.edu. at ndulin@medicine.uchicago.edu.
12ISAP 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 Jon Grant, MD, JD Mark Musch, PhD
Marisa Alegre, MD, PhD Siri Greeley, MD, PhD Cathryn Nagler, PhD
John C. Alverdy, MD Sandeep Gurbuxani, MD, PhD Yusuke Nakamura, MD, PhD
Gary An, MD Christian Hansel, PhD Jayasri Nanduri, PhD
Vineet Arora, MD Tong-Chuan He, MD, PhD Marcelo Nobrega, MD, PhD
Issam Awad, MD Gavin Hougham, PhD Olatoyosi Odenike, MD
Arshiya Baig, MD Marion Hofmann-Bowman, MD, PhD Aytekin Oto, MD
Cornelia Bailey, MS Elbert Huang, MD Linda Patrick-Miller, PhD
Yamini Bakhtiar, MD R. Stephanie Huang PhD Jayant Pinto, MD
Lev Becker, PhD Bana Jabri, MD, PhD Harold Pollack, PhD
Graeme Bell, PhD Daniel Johnson, MD Victoria Prince, PhD
Eric Beyer, MD, PhD Loren Joseph, MD Milda Saunders, MD
Michael Bishop, MD Theodore Karrison, PhD Nancy Schwartz, PhD
Marc Bissonnette, MD Kate Keenan, PhD Madeleine Shalowitz, MD
Matthew Brady, PhD Karen Kim, MD Manish Sharma, MD
Martin Burke, DO Andrea King, PhD Howard Shuman, PhD
Deborah Burnet, MD Kristen Knutson, PhD Patrick Singleton, PhD
Daniel Catenacci, MD Jay Koyner, MD Sangram Sisodia, PhD
Chin-Tu Chen, PhD Stephen Kron, MD Keyoumars Soltani, MD
Marshall Chin, MD Sonia Kupfer, MD Julian Solway, MD
Anita Chong, PhD John H. Kwon, MD, PhD Anne Sperling, PhD
Emil Coccaro, MD James LaBelle, MD, PhD Samuel Refetoff, MD
Ronald Cohen, MD Benjamin Lahey, PhD Carrie Rinker-Schaeffer, PhD
Susan Cohn. MD Roberto Lang, MD Connie Robinson, RN
Joel Collier, PhD Raphael Lee, MD Lainie Ross, MD, PhD
Philip Connell, MD Younghee Lee, PhD Gregory Ruhnke, MD
Nancy Cox, PhD Ernst Lengyel, MD, PhD Andrey Rzhetsky, PhD
Sean Crosson, PhD Stacy Lindau, MD Vera Tesic, MD
John Cunningham, MD James Liao, MD Gopal Thinakaran, PhD
Farr Curlin, MD Elizabeth Littlejohn, MD Michael Thirman, MD
Juan de Pablo, PhD Hongtao Liu, MD Matthew Tirrell, PhD
Harriet de Wit, PhD Hue Luu, MD F. Gary Toback, MD, PhD
Douglas Dirschl, MD Kay Macleod, PhD Vincent Turitto, PhD
Nickolai Dulin, PhD Tom MacTavish, MS Wim van Drongelen, PhD
Stephanie Dulawa, PhD Michael Maitland, MD, PhD Michael Vannier, MD
Yun Fang, PhD Jeremy Marks, MD, PhD Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD
Gini Fleming, MD Christopher Masi, MD R. Parker Ward, MD
Aaron Fox, PhD Karl Matlin, PhD Juliane Bubeck-Wardenburg, MD, PhD
H. Barrett Fromme, MD David McClintock, MD Sydeaka Watson, PhD
Elliot Gershon, MD Daniel McGehee, PhD Steven White, MD
Maryellen Giger, PhD David Meltzer, MD, PhD Amittha Wickrema, PhD
Catherine Glunz, MD Doriane Miller, MD Kristen Wroblewski, MS
Lucy Godley, MD Steven Montner, MD Xiaoyan Wu, MD, PhD
Christopher Gomez, MD Martha Clare Morris, ScD Ming Xu, PhD
Xiaoxi Zhuang, PhD
13ITM INVESTIGATORS MAKING HEADLINES
ITM CO-DIRECTOR AWARDED PROMINENT
FELLOWSHIP
co-director, a pediatri- designing policies to achieve one In the 1980s the Army evaluated
cian and an associate goal and not realizing the other a different approach to reduce
director of the Univer- repercussions that occur,” Ross said. exertional heat illness by modifying
sity of Chicago Medi- “We often think about the direct training for everyone – regardless
cine’s MacLean Center effects, and this is all about the of whether they possessed the trait
for Clinical Medical indirect effects.” – to a safer, standard training using
Ethics - has received the wet-bulb globe temperature
numerous recognitions For example, Ross described the measurement to evaluate heat stress
and published more aftermath of a freshman Rice during workouts. This prevented
than 200 papers in University football player’s death. In exertional heat illness in all of the
scholarly journals in 2006, the young player fell uncon- trainees, not just those at greater
addition to authoring scious during training and died the risk. And Ross said it did so with-
three books. next day from issues connected with out having to screen and label any
sickle cell trait. Individuals who are trainees as “genetically different.”
She said this award “carriers” of the trait have one copy
was particularly of the sickle cell mutation, which “We have to make sure that our
special. Ross said is known to increase the policies are fair and that they
risk of exertional heat illness and protect people in all communities,”
“My two mentors sudden death in athletes. Ross said. “There are just a lot of
- basically the two unintended consequences in some
people who shaped my His parents sued the NCAA, and of our policies…the goal of the
Lainie Ross, MD, PhD, was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim
Fellowship in April. Photo provided.
thinking about medi- as part of a settlement a rule was book is to help us make the policy
cal ethics - were Paul Ramsey, who enacted to test all college athletes implications more transparent in
was a Christian theologian at Princ- for the sickle cell trait. order to make better policy.”
By Sara Serritella
eton, and Jay
Katz, who was a And as a matter of per-
The John Simon Guggenheim Me-
psychiatrist who “We have to make sure that our sonal policy, the first
morial Foundation named Lainie
Ross, MD, PhD, as one of its 2014
worked at Yale
Law School, and
policies are fair and that they protect thing Ross did after the
official Guggenheim
fellows in April.
both of them people in all communities.” Fellowship announce-
were former - Lainie Ross, MD, PhD ment went out was to
“Lainie is one of our most excep-
Guggenheim send thank you notes
tional scholars, and I’m delighted
(recipients),” to the four people who
that she has earned this fitting rec-
she said. “So that was really very Ross said some schools may respond wrote the foundation letters on her
ognition of her incredibly import-
heartwarming for me.” to the policies by developing a more behalf for her application.
ant work,” said Julian Solway, MD,
gradual preseason training program
director of the Institute for Trans-
Starting in September, Ross will for those with the trait – which “I told them to read the New York
lational Medicine (ITM) and BSD
use the yearlong fellowship to write would put them at a disadvantage Times,” Ross said with a smile.
dean for translational medicine.
a book examining the unexpected when it came time to physically
impacts of genetic policies. She said evaluate and cut players. Ross said she’ll also always remem-
Only 177 Fellowships were awarded
she’ll be traveling across the U.S. ber her two mentors who helped get
out of almost 3,000 applicants,
and around the world to examine “Eight percent of all African her there.
and Ross was the only applicant
cutting-edge programs and study American athletes have sickle cell
honored for medicine and health.
the impact of genetic policies on trait, and death from exertional heat “They actually changed my whole
Sen. Simon Guggenheim started
various communities in order to illness occurs in less than one ath- career path,” she said about Katz
the Foundation in 1925 in memory
find diverse case studies for what lete annually,” Ross said. “So many and Ramsey. “I had dreamed of
of his deceased son, and each year
will be titled, “From Peapods to athletes would do fine without the being the orthopaedic surgeon for
it recognizes exceptional artists,
Whole Genomes: Incidental Find- special treatment. One could say the New York Yankees…Now I get
scholars and scientists with funding
ings and Unintended Consequences the policy may be over-determined. to follow in their footsteps.”
for their work.
in a Post-Mendelian World.” Alternatively, the Army took the
approach that it was under-deter- Reach Lainie Ross
While Ross - who is the ITM’s at lross@uchicago.edu.
“It’s looking at how we might be mined.”
14ITM INVESTIGATORS MAKING HEADLINES
John C. Alverdy, MD Suzanne D. Conzen, MD Maryellen L. Giger, PhD Karen E. Kim, MD
Alverdy, the Sara and Harold Conzen, Professor in the Depart- Giger, the A.N. Pritzker Professor Kim, Professor of Medicine in the
Lincoln Thompson Professor of ment of Medicine, Section of He- of Radiology, is a co-founder and Section of Gastroenterology, Hepa-
Surgery and executive vice chair matology/Oncology, is developing a scientific advisor to Quantitative tology and Nutrition, was selected
of the Department of Surgery, diagnostic tool to identify tumors in Insights, a company creating a soft- to serve as dean for faculty affairs
was named president-elect of the patients likely to benefit from treat- ware platform to help radiologists in the Biological Sciences Division.
Surgical Infection Society in May ment with a glucocorticoid receptor make more accurate and efficient Melina Hale, PhD, Professor in the
at the 34th annual Society meeting antagonist. The project, Companion breast cancer diagnoses. The compa- Department of Organismal Biology
in Baltimore. He will assume the Diagnostic for Treatment of Estrogen ny was awarded $100,000 as a win- and Anatomy, was also selected to
presidency in 2015. The Society has Receptor Negative Breast Cancer, was ter 2014 Innovation Fund Awardee. serve in the same capacity. Kim
more than 550 members and pub- awarded $55,000 as a winter 2014 The company also received $50,000 focuses on clinical faculty and Hale
lishes the journal, Surgical Infections. Innovation Fund awardee. from the Innovation Fund in 2011. on basic science faculty.
Alexander Langerman, MD David Meltzer, MD, PhD Doriane Miller, MD Dana L. Suskind, MD
Langerman, Assistant Professor of Meltzer, Professor of Medicine and Miller, Associate Professor of Suskind, Professor of Surgery and
Surgery, was a principal investi- chief of the Section of Hospital Medicine and director of the Pediatrics, is the director of the
gator in one of the two proposals Medicine at the University of Chi- Center for Community Health and University of Chicago Medicine
that won $50,000 from the new cago Medicine, received the 2014 Vitality, presented a play she wrote Thirty Million Words (TMW)
University of Chicago Medicine John M. Eisenberg Excellence in about the ripple effects of commu- program that originated from an
Innovations Grant Program. His Mentoring Award by the Agency for nity violence at the international ITM grant. The PNC Foundation
study, entitled “Prudence” Surgical Healthcare Research and Quality Community-Campus Partnerships selected TMW to be part of a $19
Cost Reduction Initiative, explores (AHRQ). Meltzer was also named for Health Conference in Chicago million initiative supporting early
ways to engage surgeons and staff in as the speaker for the 520th Convo- in May. “It Shoulda Been Me” was childhood language development,
reducing operating room costs relat- cation of the University of Chicago written with funding support from and the White House plans to high-
ed to disposable surgical supplies. in August. an ITM grant. light TMW at an upcoming event.
Greene, the Virginia and D.K. tion Capture (S3C), is working to
Ludwig Professor and Chair of the develop a new tool for identifying
Ben May Department for Cancer long-distance genomic interactions
Research, is leading a project with key to normal biological function
Bourgo, a postdoctoral fellow in the as well as diseases like cancer,
Ben May Department for Cancer diabetes, and inflammatory and
Research, that was awarded $70,000 autoimmune disorders. Their goal,
as a winter 2014 Innovation Fund which is already well underway, is
awardee. The project, entitled to streamline the assay into a kit for
Simplified Chromatin Conforma- researchers and drug developers.
Geoffrey L. Greene, PhD Ryan J. Bourgo, PhD
15CLUSTER 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
Biomedical Informat- Informatics Clinical Resources Clinical Trials
Leaders: Leaders: Leaders:
Robert Grossman, PhD David Ehrmann, MD Susan Cohn, MD
Samuel Volchenboum, MD, PhD 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 protec-
research, 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 Education Population Sciences
Leaders: Leaders: Leaders:
Deborah Burnet, MD Eric Beyer, MD, PhD Lainie Ross, MD, PhD
Karen Kim, MD David Meltzer, MD, PhD Ronald Thisted, PhD
Doriane Miller, MD Olufunmilayo (Funmi) Olopade, MD
The ITM’s Population Sciences Cluster provides
The ITM’s Community Cluster connects South The ITM’s Education Cluster facilitates the support and education in study design,
Side leaders with health professionals and medical CTSA K12 Scholar Program that gives junior biostatistics, epidemiology, research ethics, health
researchers to improve healthcare delivery and investigators protected time, mentoring, and outcome analysis, and more. This last year more
the quality of life of South Side residents. The funding for their research. The ITM administered than 100 investigators utilized its biostatistics
Cluster facilitates the Community Advisory 14 K Awards in 2013-2014. The ITM also works offerings, and it also offers year-round training
Review Council, Community-Based Participatory with the Center for Health and Social Services and CME credit with programs like the Essentials
Research (CBPR), and other resources to investi- (CHeSS) to run the Committee on Clinical and of Patient-Oriented Research (EPOR) and the
gators while providing community members with Translational Sciences, a freestanding academic summer Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)
health programs, counseling, and other outreach. unit that creates multidisciplinary curricula tar- series.
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 partner-
ship with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Illinois Institute of Technology to run the D4Lab, a workshop series and proj-
ect-based training program that combines entrepreneurship education with human-centered design to solve problems in biomedicine and health care.
16CLUSTER NEWS - BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS
CENTER FOR RESEARCH INFORMATICS OFFERS
FREE BIOINFORMATICS TRAINING
By Sara Serritella
While working on an epidemiology data, according to a CRI annual
research project, Amikar Sehdev report.
became interested in big data sets
and the bioinformatics needed to “Bioinformatics has become a
manipulate them. After attending a vital analytic tool for conducting
few Center for Research Informatics research, and we’ve made education
(CRI) bioinformatics training ses- an important part of CRI’s mission
sions, he said he decided to change to meet the needs of our research
his career trajectory and obtain community,” said Samuel Volchen-
bioinformatics certification. boum, MD, PhD, director of the
CRI and associate director of the
“CRI was the catalyst,” said Sehdev, ITM. “We’re working to expand
a third-year Hematology/Oncology our course offerings in partnership
fellow at the University of Chicago with the University of Chicago
Medicine. Medical Center, ITM, and other 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.
affiliates so that we can build on
Sehdev is now using bioinformat- the excellent training that’s already Other participants, like Shwu-Fan careers like Sehdev’s and research
ics in his own research comparing underway.” Ma, PhD, go in having more expe- in general can’t be quantified with
DNA mutations in obese colorectal rience in the field. Ma is a research a price.
cancer patients to those of colorec- Volchenboum said that training is associate (assistant professor) at the
tal cancer patients who are not. He being led by Jorge Andrade, PhD, University of Chicago Medicine’s The amount of data generated from
is also a significant bioinformatics CRI’s director of Bioinformatics. Section of Pulmonary/Critical the benchside and bedside can run
contributor in the lab of Olufun- Andrade and Wenjun Kang, MS, a Care and has attended at least five into the millions of entries and top
milayo Olopade, MD, associate CRI Bioinformatics Core scientif- of CRI’s bioinformatics training hundreds of gigabytes, according to
dean of Global Health and director ic programmer, led a three-hour sessions. Ma, making bioinformatics knowl-
of the Center for Clinical Cancer session in May that served as an edge critical in moving toward
Genetics. introduction to Linux, the primary “The audience level is very broad, precision care.
operating system used in bioinfor- and the instructors are very knowl-
The Center for Research Infor- matics. edgeable,” Ma said. “After the first “Bioinformatics is essential now for
matics (CRI) has been hosting free part of the lecture it’s up to the the future of medical research,” she
bioinformatics training sessions “Many of the people participat- more advanced audience members said. “The large quantity of data
supported by the ITM each month ing do not have formal training to raise questions and they will an- needs to be sorted and then quali-
since 2012. In its first year alone, it in computer science or computer swer for the specific needs. You can ty-controlled, and you just can’t do
taught more than 350 participants engineering, so this motivates them always get something out of it.” that manually anymore.”
how to analyze complex biological to get interested and involved,”
Andrade said. And that something
comes at no cost – IF YOU GO
Attendee Tunde Ade- which could translate Bioinformatics training sessions are held at
dokun, a University of into saving thousands the end of each month. Check out CRI’s
Chicago Medicine student of dollars. website for the latest dates and new learning
research assistant, said the opportunities. Remember to register early
training was a great way to “A training session on - because the classes are hands-on, there is
learn something useful to Linux for three hours limited seating with computer access.
his career. will usually cost $300
to $500,” Andrade
“I’ve used Windows all my said, “And more specific analysis Want to learn more about
life, so this opportunity could go in the order of thousands.” bioinformatics?
Amikar Sehdev, PhD, attended several of CRI’s free
bioinformatics training sessions. is something that will be really help- Reach Jorge Andrade at
Photo by Sara Serritella. ful,” he said. But the impact the training has on jandrade@bsd.uchicago.edu.
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