Meharry RCMI Program in Women's Health Research

这个RCMI项目更新申请的长期目标是扩大和提高妇女健康研究的能力，包括梅哈里医学院（MMC）的艾滋病毒/艾滋病研究，特别强调那些不成比例地影响有色人种妇女的疾病。许多报告记录了白人妇女和有色人种妇女，特别是非洲裔美国妇女和西班牙裔妇女之间健康状况的差异。在目前的申请中，我们寻求通过为最近雇用的两名RCMI调查员提供持续的支持来提高MMC妇女健康研究的能力。P. Gangula博士将继续他对糖尿病性胃轻瘫的研究，这在女性中发病率是男性的4倍，N. Ismail博士将研究怀孕期间人类单核细胞埃利希体病的免疫调节。我们计划招募三名心理健康/行为科学调查员，以增加妇女健康研究的这一层面。在试点项目的核心：X. Dong博士将研究HIV-1组装，S. Haider博士将研究AA妇女的维生素D缺乏和子宫肌瘤，C. Thota博士将寻求基因多态性与早产中维生素D缺乏症的相关性。一支由资深科学家组成的强大团队将为所有RCMI调查员提供强大的指导和教师发展经验。现有的两个核心设施（蛋白质组学和基因组& BL3/流式细胞术）将被合并/升级，并将开发一个新的核心设施（女性组织获取核心）。RCMI计划将与其他MMC研究计划和RTRN网络对接，以扩大和提高研究人员的资源和机会。当前申请的具体目标是：1)在奖励期结束前，平均每年发表2篇同行评审的出版物/RCMI研究者；2)促进所有RCMI调查员在其第三年支持之前提交研究者发起的资助申请；3)在奖励周期结束时，超过50%的RCMI调查人员获得了调查人员发起的支持；4)有文件证据证明RCMI支持的核心设施、生物信息学支持以及RTRN支持得到了适当的利用，以实现上述成功。

The long range goal of this RCMI program renewal application is to expand and improve the capacity for women's health research, including HIV/AIDS at Meharry Medical College (MMC), placing particular emphasis on those diseases that disproportionately impact women of color. Numerous reports have documented differences in health status between Caucasian women and women of color, particularly African American (AA) and Hispanic Women. In the current application we seek to increase the capacity for women's health research at MMC by providing ongoing support for two recently hired RCMI investigators. Dr. P. Gangula will continue his studies on diabetic gastroparesis, which has a 4-times greater incidence in women, and Dr. N. Ismail will study immune regulation of human monocytic ehrlichiosis during pregnancy. We plan to recruit three mental health/behavioral science investigators to add this dimension of women's health research. In the pilot project core: Dr. X. Dong will study HIV-1 assembly, Dr. S. Haider will study Vitamin D deficiency and uterine fibroids in AA women and Dr. C. Thota will seek to correlate gene polymorphism and hypovitaminosis D in preterm birth. A strong team of senior scientists will facilitate a robust mentoring and faculty development experience for all RCMI Investigators. Two existing core facilities (Proteomic and Genomic & BL3/Flow Cytometry) will be merged /upgraded and a new core facility (Female Tissue Acquisition Core) will be developed. The RCMI program will be interfaced with other MMC research programs and the RTRN network to expand and enhance the resources and opportunities for investigators. The specific aims of the current application are to 1) exceed a 3 year average of 2 peer-reviewed publications/year/RCMI Investigator by the end of the award period; 2) to facilitate submission of investigator-initiated grant applications by all RCMI Investigators prior to their 3rd year of support; 3) to exceed 50% of RCMI investigators acquiring investigator-initiated support by the end of the award cycle; and 4) to have documented evidence that RCMI supported core facilities, bioinformatics support, as well as RTRN support were appropriately leveraged to achieve the above successes.