In Bangladesh, as in other lower- and middle-income countries, the weak research infrastructure reduces the efficiency of research projects that are undertaken, as many Bangladeshi institutions do not have the complete set of skills (technical, statistical, management, methods, or community engagement skills) to undertake a successful research project and disseminate the results. Morbidity and mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is growing in these countries, and there is growing evidence that country-specific research is needed to identify risk factors that are unique to the context of LMICs. With the resources of this RCRE grant, we would (1) identify institutions that already have expertise in research practice, and develop a formal framework that encourages the sharing of this expertise across institutions, increasing the efficiency of research by supporting a division of labor (2) increase the robustness of the identified existing expertise by research enhancement activities that allow the collaborators at the partner institutions to hone their skills and disseminate the results of their research and (3) use two pilot projects to engage the newly-formulated RCRE protocol, using the expertise of the RCRE?s shared core facilities and enhancing their research capacity. Collaborators at the University of Chicago have a long history of collaboration with institutions in Bangladesh, including a 15-year history of collaborating with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), the only full medical university in Bangladesh. With this local knowledge, the two lead institutions (UC and BSMMU), selected 6 additional regional research institutions to collaborate with. These six additional institutions will make up the shared core facilities of the RCRE, and will implement aspects of a research protocol that are relevant to their expertise. The shared core facilities are National Institute of Cancer Research & Hospital (NICRH), the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), University of Chicago Research Bangladesh (URB), Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), National Institute of Neurological Diseases (NIND), and the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB). In addition Directorate General of Health Services of Government of Bangladesh will also be a partner in this RCRE. Each of these institutions has a proven ability to excel in one of the five areas of research expertise we identified: clinical and diagnostics; data management, statistics, and informatics; biomarkers; population survey and data collection; and community engagement, outreach, and dissemination. After formally establishing this RCRE, we will implement two pilot research projects whose research topics reflect two key areas of NCD research: the establishment of a pathology-based cancer registry in the capital, Dhaka; and the relationship between the microbiome (which varies greatly between populations) and cardiovascular disease. Each of these pilot projects will be undertaken with the collaboration of the RCRE shared core facilities, and supported by workshops, short courses, and colloquium that have been developed to enhance the existing capacity of the RCRE members. This formal network of collaboration will strengthen the capacity of local researchers to investigate the determinants of NCD in local populations, and lead to better informed policies and care.
