Biobehavioral and Methods Core (BMC)

生物行为和方法核心(BMC)将直接支持该中心推进慢性疾病认知和情感症状科学的总体目标。该中心将通过发展可持续的跨学科生物行为研究来实现这一目标，该研究围绕集中的资源和基础设施以及互补和协同的研究活动进行组织，并使可行性研究能够发展为新的研究计划。BMC在这一总体倡议中的作用是将生物行为学和方法学的熟练程度整合到中心赞助的活动和试点研究项目中，从实施到分析和传播，最后是为随后的R01做准备。BMC还将为其他需要这方面专业知识的中心成员提供集中的资源。BMC的一个核心组成部分是确保先导研究和其他中心相关研究中提出的生物分析和行为措施的质量、有效性、严格性和适当性。 BMC代表着一个最先进的研究核心，它将为中心调查人员提供必要的生物行为和方法支持，以成功实现与中心主题一致的研究计划。中心将根据研究要求，在生物数据的收集、处理和解释以及综合数据收集、管理和分析服务方面为中心调查人员提供支持。我们将通过与整个埃默里伍德拉夫健康科学中心(包括神经科学研究所、温希普癌症中心和亚特兰大临床与翻译研究所(ACTSI))的跨学科研究人员合作，充分利用我们的地理位置。该中心将配备受过博士培训的教师，他们的专业知识包括：1)认知诊断分类、结构方程和分层建模，2)神经成像变异的生物统计学量化，3)定量流行病学(纵向数据分析和监测)，4)研究人员获得的生物数据的获取、管理、统计表征和整合。BMC的使命是提高研究效率和质量，促进中心成员的创新，并为该领域的跨学科研究建立可持续的机制。

The Biobehavioral and Methods Core (BMC) will directly support the overarching goal of the Center to advance the science of cognitive and affective symptoms in chronic illness. The Center will accomplish this goal through the development of sustainable interdisciplinary biobehavioral research that is organized around centralized resources and infrastructure and complementary and synergistic research activities and that enables feasibility research to develop into new programs of research. The role of the BMC in this overarching initiative is to integrate biobehavioral and methodological proficiency throughout Center-sponsored activities and pilot research projects, from implementation, to analysis and dissemination, and ultimately, preparation for a subsequent R01. The BMC will also provide a centralized resource for other Center members in need of this expertise. A central component of the BMC is to ensure the quality, validity, rigor and appropriateness of the biological assays and behavioral measures proposed in the pilot studies and other Center-associated studies. The BMC represents a state-of-the-art research core that will provide center investigators with the biobehavioral and methodological support necessary to successfully achieve a program of research aligned with the theme of the Center. The Core will furnish Center investigators with support in both the collection, handling, and interpreting of biological data as well as in the comprehensive data collection, management, and analysis services as the requirements of their studies dictate. We will capitalize on our location by partnering with interdisciplinary researchers throughout Emory's Woodruff Health Sciences Center including the Neuroscience Institute, the Winship Cancer Center, and the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Institute (ACTSI). The Center will be staffed with doctorally-trained faculty with expertise in: 1) cognitive diagnostic classification, structural equation, and hierarchical modeling, 2) biostatistical quantification of variation in neuroimaging, 3) quantitative epidemiology (longitudinal data analysis and surveillance) and, 4) the acquisition, management, and statistical characterization and integration of biological data obtained by investigators. The mission of the BMC is to foster research productivity and quality, spur innovation among Center Members and establish a sustainable mechanism for interdisciplinary research in this area.