Clinical Translational Core

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The Clinical Translational Core (CTC) promotes the use of, provides access to, and supports state-of-the-art technologies and resources to facilitate translation of basic science discoveries to the clinical setting, treatment development, clinical trials, and community practice. Indeed, the Waisman Center has always focused on clinical and translational research as one of the IDDRCs that contains a UCEDD (University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities), including eleven diagnostic and treatment clinics operated in partnership with the two adjoining hospitals of the UW Health system and an inclusive model preschool program-the Waisman Early Childhood Program (WECP). Our history of interactions between research and clinical services continues to the present with studies of assessments, treatments, and interventions in conditions such as traumatic brain injury, blindness, Down syndrome, and autism spectrum disorder. Our Core incorporates new technologies and resources in biomedical research and serves as a focal point for cost- effective and innovative translational research related to intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) on our campus. The CTC has strong expertise in addressing challenges facing investigators who conduct behavioral and bio-behavioral research on IDD populations. Such populations present challenges to recruitment, require diagnostic evaluations by professionals with highly specialized training, and often involve assessment via innovative measurement strategies designed to focus specifically on the construct of interest and accessible to individuals with various types of disabilities; thus, linkages between basic, clinical and community applications of research in this area are critical. The CTC assists investigators with these and other challenges in the areas of recruitment, assessment, and behavioral methods development and applications. The CTC was dramatically enhanced within the last year by the development and implementation of a biobank to collect, store and make accessible for research biospecimens, clinical data, and health information from individuals with IDD. We have expanded our clinical research coordination and navigation services and we have upgraded our audio/video recording equipment for our behavioral testing suites. In response to COVID- 19, we have increased our clinical assessment and custom application services to support innovations needed for virtual data collection. Our specific aims for the next project period are to provide (1) support recruitment of human participants and provide access to data/specimens for behavioral, biobehavioral, and biomedical research and clinical trials, including capacity for cGMP biomanufacturing; (2) provide research coordination and navigation services; (3) provide specialized clinical assessments of individuals with IDD; and (4) provide behavioral methods development and custom applications.