OMICS CORE PROJECT ABSTRACT In the United States, 70% of deaths annually can be attributed to chronic conditions. One of the most frequent and debilitating is pain, which can either occur as a symptom of chronic illness or as a primary problem. According to the recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on Relieving Pain in America (2011), chronic pain is a public health epidemic affecting more than 116 million Americans and costing more than $600 billion per year in healthcare expenses and lost work productivity?despite advances in pharmacological treatment, most people do not obtain adequate pain relief. Recently, various types of self-management strategies have been tested for chronic pain management, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), non-pharmacologic treatments (e.g., heat, cold, acupuncture, etc.) and physical activity. However, much like pharmacogenomic influences on individual response to drug treatment, self-management intervention trials have demonstrated mixed results in that some, but not all, study participants respond or participate. This could be due to many factors, including an individual's omics associations with their resilience, motivation and/or capability to engage, or benefit from, self-management interventions. Moreover, the omics mechanisms underlying the relative success or failure of self-management interventions on an individual level have been understudied. Guided by an adapted National Institutes of Health Symptom Science (NIHSS) model, we propose to develop the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Omics Associated with Self-management Interventions for Symptoms (OASIS) Center. The science of the Center will focus on our hypothesis that genomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic and proteomic outcomes (hereafter referred to as ?omics?), mediated by psychosocial factors and sex differences and/or moderated by the environment, predict individual resilience, motivation and capability to engage in and participate in self-management behaviors (physical activity) and response to interventions designed to improve chronic pain. The Omics Core (OC) of the OASIS Center will provide next-generation RNA and DNA sequencing services, proteomics assays, and bioinformatics analysis and visualization of omics data support for pilot projects and Center scientists. As part of the sustainability plan for the OC, service delivery will be expanded to accept work from new internal and external partners. Work completed in the OC will performed as fee-for-service via a chargeback system developed for the OASIS Center. The OC will accomplish its goals for service delivery and sustainability via the following specific aims (1) Provide state-of-the-art next-generation RNA and DNA sequencing, (2) Provide state-of-the-art proteomics capabilities and (3) Provide omic data analysis and visualization support.
