City of Hope (COH) is applying to serve as the Human Islet Research Network (HIRN) Coordinating Center (HIRN-CC), to support HIRN's goal of developing innovative strategies for the treatment, prevention and cure of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). The HIRN-CC will provide critical infrastructure to promote communication and collaboration among current and future HIRN participants, facilitating scientific advances and fostering the sharing of data, tools, and reagents among HIRN members and the research community at large. To support the HIRN mission, the HIRN-CC will work collaboratively with the HIRN Bioinformatics Center (HIRN-BC) to form the HIRN Administrative Hub, under the guidance of the HIRN advisory committees and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Our highly qualified Principal Investigator (PI) and staff will apply their extensive experience with administrative management of resource-based operations serving the biomedical research community, leveraging ongoing NIDDK support to optimize the value to the HIRN, incorporating our familiarity with the UC4 cooperative mechanism, and a diverse portfolio of successfully deployed biomedical research support systems, websites, and multi-center databases. Through the HIRN-CC, COH will provide an optimal administrative infrastructure for the HIRN, including arranging all meetings and teleconferences of the multiple advisory groups; preparing agendas, meeting materials and drafting minutes; documenting policies and procedures for the program; and issuing opportunity pool subcontracts. COH will foster an environment of trust and cooperation among participating HIRN consortia members to maximize information and resource sharing, thereby accelerating team science and new advances. The CC will actively facilitate scientific communication through organization of an annual scientific retreat, encouraging discussion among participating investigators via 'chat' rooms, facilitating working groups, and networking and collaborations among other NIH programs and non-NIH partners. In establishing a strong collaborative with the HIRN-BC, COH will promote sharing of data, materials and resources across the HIRN Consortia and the T1D scientific community through development of a leading edge HIRN website and data repository linkage. HIRN consortia members will benefit by cataloguing, searching, and exchanging biomaterials via the COH-developed electronic Material Transfer Agreement (eMTA) software system, facilitating streamlined transfer of materials among Consortia membership. The CC will develop search and visualization tools for investigators to readily access validated data and metadata generated by HIRN research projects, and link HIRN databases to relevant NIH data repositories and websites to eliminate duplication. The HIRN-CC will forge partnerships with related initiatives such as the Integrated Islet Distribution Program (IIDP) to leverage existing resources. COH is fully poised to assume all HIRN-CC responsibilities to support and enhance the HIRN initiative, while remaining flexible in accommodating the changing TID scientific environment and emerging research needs.
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) is funding the Human Islet Research Network (HIRN), with the overall goal of developing innovative strategies for the treatment, prevention and cure of Type I Diabetes (T1D). This new undertaking will establish a network of consortia through which innovative scientists will conduct translational research related to loss of functional beta cell mass in T1D. HIRN investigators will be supported by a Coordinating Center (HIRN-CC) and Bioinformatics Center (HIRN-BC), serving together as the HIRN Administrative Hub.
