The University of South Florida is uniquely qualified to conduct the activities specified in this limited competition RFA.
The specific aims of this application are to describe plans to coordinate the recruitment of immune markers collaborator(s) and to continue the DCC's functions in support of TEDDY subject follow-up. The competition will be sufficient to attract applications from collaborators with the capability to perform reliable measurements, and to make the data available to TEDDY investigators for collaborative, integrative analyses. In addition, this application is intended to support the TEDDY DCC for subject follow-up in the final two years of the award. The proposed Data Coordinating Center activities in years 4 and 5 include: 1) Executing the study protocol for follow-up of TEDDY study participants according to schedules and procedures contained in the study's Manual of Operations and in collaboration with the Clinical Centers at which participants are enrolled and with NIDDK staff. 2) Receiving, managing, and analyzing data obtained from the clinical centers 3). Monitoring of adherence to the research plan by conducting site visits to monitor the quality of record keeping, source documentation and the accuracy of data entry and also for overseeing data quality control. Steering Committee, subcommittee, and external evaluation committee meetings and workshops.4). Providing statistical support, expertise and oversight throughout the study. 5) Providing study- wide communications, dissemination of study materials such as protocols, Manual of Operations, forms or other study documents, and development and maintenance of the web site. 6) Playing a key role in the operational conduct of TEDDY, providing training and technical assistance to the Clinical Centers in performance of the follow-up assessments; assisting in protocol implementation; and working in conjunction with the Clinical Centers and NIDDK staff to oversee all aspects of Clinical Center performance, including timeliness and quality of data and biosample submission. 7) Procurement and administration of subcontracts for laboratory services, including: central human leukocyte antigen laboratory; the autoantibody laboratories, the mRNA laboratories, infectious disease laboratories, and other laboratories as needed. 8) Providing administrative and logistical support services for the TEDDY Study Group including preparation of publications, and organizing periodic meetings for the study group and subcommittees, workshops, and conference calls. 9) Transfer of all biosamples and data to the NIDDK central repositories according to a timeline developed with the NIDDK. and 10) Working closely with the Clinical Centers in a collaborative and interactive manner and serving on the Steering Committee.
The goal of The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young Study (TEDDY) is the identification of infectious agents, dietary factors, or other environmental agents, including psychosocial factors which trigger type 1 diabetes (T1D) in genetically susceptible individuals. This project will extend the study to include immune markers. Identification of such factors will lead to a better understanding of disease pathogenesis and result in new strategies to prevent, delay or reverse T1D. The Coordinating Center maintains the study protocol and provides project oversight, coordination, communication, statistical analyses and capability to collect longitudinal data and results of laboratory analyses of biological specimens from individuals at risk for diabetes. The TEDDY study includes analyses of dietary biomarkers, metabolomics, gene expression and the microbiome in assessing characteristics of those developing autoimmunity, Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. The DCC has created a data warehouse architecture and informatics support for analysis of ?omics? data sets and will expand this by adding studies of the immune system and its role in the development of islet autoimmunity and T1D.
