Regulatory Factors in the GI Tract

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DESCRIPTION, OVERALL (provided by applicant): This application is for continued support of the Digestive Diseases Research Core Center (DDRCC) at Washington University St. Louis, which is the central institutional resource for investigators interested in the regulatory mechanisms and pathophysiology of the gastrointestinal tract and liver. The central focus of investigation is on inflammatory bowel diseases and its complications. However, we take a broad view of relevant research and will continue to support research on basic biological processes relevant to inflammatory bowel diseases, even if the systems being studied are not immediately applicable to inflammatory bowel diseases. The DDRCC supports an outstanding Research Base consisting of 62 Investigators in 10 departments with research grants totaling $17.5 million dollars (47% NIDDK funding). The DDRCC sustains its strong Research Base by actively supporting career development of new investigators through its Pilot/Feasibility Program. Nine former and four current Pilot/Feasibility awardees currently contribute to the Research Base. Four research core facilities (Murine Models/Gnotobiotic Core, Morphology Core, Functional Genomics Core and Proteomics Core) play a central role in promoting collaboration and synergy between individuals. They pool resources to provide services and expertise that would be cost and time- prohibitive to develop de novo, and maintain. To facilitate the conduct of clinical and translational research in inflammatory bowel diseases, the Clinical Component of the DDRCC consists of a Tissue Procurement Facility archives clinical samples linked to longitudinal clinical information ( >1,100 patients with inflammatory bowel diseases recruited in three years) and promotes new collaborative and synergistic interactions between basic researchers and clinicians. The DDRCC Clinical Component and Research Core facilities are integrated within the framework of the Clinical Translational Science Award - sponsored biomedical informatics infrastructure. By collecting clinical samples and linking them to integrated clinical information collected in focused longitudinal studies and research data generated from these samples by the DDRCC Research Core Facilities, the DDRCC is building a comprehensive multidimensional discovery platform from which investigators can launch further hypothesis-driven studies on inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis.