This proposal is for biostatistical and bioinformatics infrastructure and data coordination for the set of projects focused on Influence of Trichomoniasis and Bacterial Vaginosis on Chlamydia Concordance in Partners and on Chlamydia Clearance, Persistence, and Recurrence after Therapy. This project is to provide support for a collaboration of infectious disease researchers and colleagues. This Core will support a series of project teams working together across the entire infrastructure to plan, design, organize, implement, and monitor data collection, ultimately leading to the analyses of study results. The project teams will build on existing structure within the Data Management and Analysis Center (DMAC) at UAB within the Department of Biostatistics in partnership with the Bioinformatics unit associated with the UAB CCTS. Our approach is designed to ensure collaboration and communication among all investigators. Our effective data collection systems and data management systems will be modified to create a data management environment that ensures secure data flow throughout the project, allows for rapid education and communications among research team, and allows data sharing pertinent to this collaborative project, while maintaining the strict confidentiality not only assured to the participants, but required by the nature of this research. Given our extensive ongoing support of multicenter trials, we will be able to make possible the rapid implementation and cost-effective initiation of the study protocols. We will use multifaceted tracking and monitoring of studies to ensure the highest quality data. We will collaborate with the individual study research groups to perform analyses and interpretation of the resulting data, or with the collaborating statisticians, providing resources necessary for the analysis. We will support the project team in the dissemination of the results to the scientific community and information to the lay users.
