? The overall goal of this proposal is to establish a planning process to develop novel interdisciplinary strategies to rapidly translate discovery to reduce the burden of diabetic cardiovascular disease, a serious and common medical problem with profound implications for world health. This planning proposal will involve the collective efforts of an interdisciplinary team spanning across 13 departments and 4 colleges at Washington University in St. Louis in partnership with a national population outcomes group. The planning process will be conducted within the framework of the following three elements: Fundamental Discovery to address the pathobiology of diabetic heart and vascular disease; a Technological Platform to support interdisciplinary research activities; and Translational Studies and Clinical Implementation to move discovery to new paradigms in patient care. The process will begin as an open, university-wide dialogue to address existing barriers to transforming """"""""multidisciplinary"""""""" research to true """"""""interdisciplinary"""""""" units. Planning groups linked to Fundamental Discovery and Translation Pathways will be formed. The Planning groups will come together to develop research strategies that integrate disciplines, establish novel cross-disciplinary training approaches, and evaluate and validate candidate biomarkers aimed at the early detection and risk stratification of myocardial and vascular disease in the diabetic. Rigorous phenotyping strategies will be devised for studies in small groups of humans to assess the potential utility of molecular, biochemical, and imaging markers to detect disease. Plans to validate biomarkers will be developed with population outcomes collaborators. An important long-term goal of the planning process is to outline strategies aimed at the development of a panel of biomarkers that will revolutionize the way we care for diabetic patients through early detection of myocardial and vascular disease, risk stratification, and therapeutic decision-making. It is envisioned that principles established by the fundamental paradigm shift developed through our efforts will be applicable to other complex disease states in the future. ? ?
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