Biomedical Resource Core

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ABSTRACT The Biomedical Resource Core (BRC) of the Johns Hopkins O’Brien Center to Advance Kidney Health Equity will provide an innovative portfolio of research services, resources, and tools for investigators to understand and ameliorate disparities in kidney disease, towards ultimately achieving kidney health equity. With a focus on dietary and social stresses that drive kidney health disparities, the BRC is uniquely designed to address this fundamental challenge with a broad impact, advancing kidney research nationally. A Clinical Science Dietary and Social Stressor Laboratory (C-DSSL) directed by Dr. Lawrence Appel, and a Basic Science Dietary and Social Stressor Laboratory (B-DSSL), directed by Dr. Paul Welling provide expert consultation, proven protocols, training, access to materials and equipment; and will execute pilot studies or larger research projects. A joint consultation service, and a deliberate team approach meld the two laboratories, and create an innovative bidirectional pipeline that maximizes translation. The C-DSSL will provide the following services : 1) clinical study design; 2) dietary assessment; 3) access to numerous large cohort studies, with racially and socioeconomically diverse populations, deep phenotyping and collection of dietary data, stored biospecimens, and long follow-up periods; 4) feeding studies modeled on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension trials; 5) behavioral intervention studies; 6) translational studies in the community; 7) use of publicly available datasets; and 8) biostatistical support. The B-DSSL will provide investigators with comprehensive services and resources for preclinical research to determine the mechanistic underpinnings of human health disparity stressors, using mice as a model system; services will include: 1) study design; 2) humanized mouse diet protocols; 3) a comprehensive mouse kidney phenotyping core for exploring stress mechanisms from whole animal physiology to molecular mechanism; 4) a lipid and carbohydrate metabolism phenotyping core, equipped with state-of-the-art metabolic cages for calorimetry; 5) a core for studying immunological manifestations of dietary and social stressors in the kidney; 6) a microbiome core with a state-of-the-art germ- free facility; and 7) a mouse biobank of dietary and social stress models. All shared services and resources will undergo strict quality control, validation, and periodic review of demand and impact. In addition to the services provided by the laboratories and their integrated approach, the BRC will foster training and capacity building to maximize entry of early-stage investigators from diverse fields new to kidney health equity research. The BRC is committed to collaborating with the consortium broadly, and to freely sharing its specialized resources.