This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The overall goal of this activity is to understand the genetic mechanisms that regulate immunity and contribute to inflammation and end-organ damage in asthma, lupus and rheumatic fever, disorders that disproportionately affect Pacific Islanders. This goal is to be achieved by the following specific aims: 1) establish a mentoring milieu to help junior faculty formulate innovative projects and to develop the necessary research skills to publish and compete successfully for extramural funds; 2) provide support to develop grants and facilitate post-award administration, enhance connectivity between clinics and basic laboratories and promote timely publication and presentation of findings; and 3) implement hypothesis-driven developmental projects that examine asthma and its progression to airway remodeling (C. Jourdan LeSaux, PI), systemic lupus erythmatosus and its progression to nephritis (K. Yamamoto, PI), and acute rheumatic fever and its progression to rheumatic heart disease (D. Kurahara, PI). During the five years of support the activity has developed efficient recruitment procedures at multiple sites, advanced its technical expertise in gene expression profiling and analysis; established IgE, streptococcal M peptide, and human cardiac myosin ELISAs; optimized genomic DNA processing and archiving in compliance with HIPAA and IRB policies; supported new findings in cultured fibroblasts and the allergic mouse model; and initiated problem-based training in statistics and experimental design with Dr. Jimmy Efird. Clinical expertise was fully developed within the activity to conduct all of its own phenotypic characterization. We solidified collaborations with researchers at UCSD, University of Texas Southwestern, the University of Oklahoma and Johns Hopkins University.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 347 publications