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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:       TRACI HAYES, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
RTRN DATA TECHNOLOGY COORDINATING CENTER (DTCC)
601.979.0333
Traci.hayes@rtrn.net

 

RTRN Data Technology Coordinating Center at Jackson State University selected as Jackson Heart Study Vanguard Center


 JSU is the first minority institution to join a distinguished research partnership




Jackson, Miss. (August 6, 2009) -- The Research Centers in Minority Institutions Translational Research Network (RTRN) Data Technology Coordinating Center (DTCC), located at Jackson State University (JSU) in Jackson, Mississippi, has been selected as a Jackson Heart Study Vanguard Center.  By uniting the RTRN DTCC with the Jackson Heart Study, Jackson State University becomes the first minority institution recognized as a JHS Vanguard Center and the sixth site to join the cluster of distinguished scientific research partners, which includes Boston University Medical Center/Framingham Heart Study, Broad Institute/Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Mississippi Medical Center, and University of Michigan, Center for Integrative Approaches to Health Disparities, School of Public Health. The Vanguard Centers represent a collaborative effort of select institutions sharing scientific and medical data to advance health services. 

The RTRN DTCC, a technological hub for 18 research centers in minority institutions (RCMI) across the United States, will establish and maintain an interface that will enable the hundreds of scientists and researchers at the RCMI sites to more easily access and expedite the use of the Jackson Heart Study datasets for more than 5,000 study participants.  The Jackson Heart Study provides a rare and valuable scientific resource to study factors that can cause and eliminate diseases in underserved populations like those found in Jackson, Mississippi and throughout the nation.

“This partnership can advance the work of many scientists, with particular focus on minority scientists, seeking opportunities for ancillary studies, multi-site ethnic-based studies and manuscript development that deal with health disparities,” said Dr. Daniel Sarpong, senior biostatistician and director of the JHS Data Coordinating Center.  “The RCMI scientists of RTRN will now join the numerous active collaborations using the JHS datasets for various research projects.”

Dr. Sarpong, along with Drs. James Perkins, RTRN Co-Principal Investigator and RTRN DTCC Director, Jackson State University, and Gary Gibbons, Director of Cardiovascular Research Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine – a RCMI center – spearheaded the collaborative effort to unite the RCMI Translational Research Network DTCC with JHS.  The year-long process required that the three submit a formal proposal for approval to the JHS Steering Committee which included representatives from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), the primary funding agencies for the Jackson Heart Study.

“Our partnership with the Jackson Heart Study is an important step in the ongoing growth and development of the Network (RTRN) that is well aligned with its mission to be a leader in health disparities research,” said Dr. Gibbons. “This designation will be mutually beneficial in facilitating a closer collaboration between investigators in the RCMI community and the Jackson Heart Study who share common scientific interests.”

Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is the first among the RCMI centers to utilize the JHS data for various translational research projects. Investigators at MSM’s Cardiovascular Research Institute are interested in pursuing collaborative research with colleagues at the Jackson Heart Study that are defining the role of how gene-environment interacts and novel biomarkers as determinants of cardiovascular disease in African-Americans.  Specifically, these researchers are investigating the influence of an ‘adipokine’ produced from fat tissue and adiponectin, as an endogenous ‘protective’ factor that may mitigate the progression of cardiovascular disease.  As an extension of this study, these researchers are interested in exploring the role of genetic factors that may influence the plasma levels of adiponectin in populations of African ancestry.

“The collaborative relationship between the RTRN DTCC and JHS should spark future funding opportunities for the Network’s researchers,” said Dr. Perkins. “Through the DTCC, RTRN researchers will be linked to a robust and highly valued disparities related database which can be used to support new grants and papers. Our researchers can develop new independent projects that have linkage to the Jackson Heart Study.”

RTRN will focus on mining the current JHS data for presentations and publications; work with the JHS TRIPP (Translating Research into Practice and Prevention) subcommittee to translate research affiliated with JHS into practice for health professionals and lay public, and network scientists will participate in JHS writing and assisting phenotype and genotype-working and review groups. 

“The RTRN DTCC will focus on safeguarding all the data; ensuring that our delivery methods adhere to the same security standards established by JHS and the NHLBI,” said Dr. Perkins.
“RTRN investigators will have the unique capabilities of accessing the JHS data through customized reports, saving valuable research time and working with network biostatisticians to pre-review the data to ensure sample size is adequate. This also saves time, which benefits both RTRN and JHS.”

“We are delighted to partner with the RTRN Data Technology Coordinating Center at Jackson State University to offer the JHS data sets to scientists working throughout the RCMI community.  These scientists are committed to identifying improved methods for addressing health disparities and the JHS data will be a vital source of information for advancing their research outcomes,” said Dr. Herman Taylor, Jr., Principal Investigator for the Jackson Heart Study. “The collaboration between the RTRN DTCC and the Jackson Heart Study will increase the number of active investigators dedicated to translational approaches for understanding minority health.”

The Jackson Heart Study is the largest study in history to investigate the inherited (genetic) factors that affect high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, diabetes and other important diseases in African Americans. The purpose of the Jackson Heart Study is to explore reasons for these health disparities and to uncover new approaches to improve the outcomes. Herman A. Taylor, Jr., MD, MPH, FACC, FAHA, (University of Mississippi Medical Center (Jackson, Mississippi)) is the principal investigator for the Jackson Heart Study.  For more information about the Jackson Heart Study, visit http://jhs.jsums.edu/jhsinfo/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx.

The RCMI Translational Research Network (RTRN) is a national consortium of clinical and translational researchers in the RCMI Centers, working in collaboration with investigators from other academic health centers, community health providers, and the public to focus their collective efforts on addressing health disparities. Through the Data Technology Coordinating Center (DTCC), located at Jackson State University (Jackson, Mississippi), the Network has established a solid technological foundation to support intellectual exchange, generate innovative inter- and multi-disciplinary research and facilitate the movement of scientific advances throughout the translational research spectrum.  Keith Norris, MD, (Charles Drew University of Medicine (Los Angeles, California)) is the principal investigator for RTRN.  For more information about RTRN and the DTCC, visit www.rtrn.net.

RTRN is supported by grant number U54RR022762 from the National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health (NIH).  This grant also receives co-funding from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, NIH.