A strong administrative organization is required to establish and maintain the communication needed to coordinate the research and financial activities being conducted in the three separate medical schools that comprise this Program Project Grant (PPG): University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Virginia. The Administrative Core will be located at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and will provide administrative support for the PPG. The main focus of the Administrative Core is the successful implementation of the program goals to support a coordinated research program designed to further develop the novel and very promising human enteroid model system to study the pathogenesis of enteric disease due to diarrheagenic Escherichia coli and Shigella. The Administrative Core will develop and maintain a stable, flexible, yet centralized infrastructure to promote and coordinate multi-disciplinary research in infectious enteric diseases.
The Specific Aims of the Administrative Core are:
Aim 1 : Establish and maintain fiscal management systems.
Aim 2 : Coordinate, supervise and manage all PPG activities.
Aim 3 : Communicate and interact with NIAID staff.
Aim 4 : Prepare and submit an Annual Progress Report.
Public health: A novel system to model in the human intestine will be used to study the pathogenic mechanisms by which several important agents of diarrhea cause disease, including testing vaccine candidates and identifying potential therapeutic targets. The Administrative Core will provide the administrative infrastructure to support the consortium of investigators at three different universities who will conduct this research.
