Clinical & Translational Core

The primary mission of the Vanderbilt O’Brien Kidney Center (VOKC) Clinical and Translational Core is to provide an integrative platform of shared resources to enhance the design and execution of innovative and collaborative clinical translational research in kidney disease.

How we achieve this mission:

Fostering internal and external collaboration in translational kidney disease research by:
- Supporting biosample and clinical data processing, storage and provision
- Providing resources for procedures, such as stable isotope studies, macronutrient clamps, and energy balance, including sample analysis and exportable technical expertise
- Offering resources for data coordination and analysis, including database creation and management, data analysis and statistical support, data safety and monitoring and coordination of investigational drug services
Spearheading collaboration with large internal and external retrospective and prospective cohorts including, but not limited to, the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS); Vanderbilt Research Derivative (RD) and DNA Biobank (BioVU); Jackson Heart Study (JHS); Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA); Validation of Biomarkers in Acute Lung Injury Diagnosis (VALID) study; and Veterans Informatics and Computing Infrastructure (VINCI)
Providing “studio”-based expertise to internal and external collaborators that can improve the quality of design, analytic approach, interpretation, and presentation of findings for clinical translational research studies and that can enhance manuscript writing and grant submissions
Supporting the execution of pilot projects of the VOKC by facilitating data and sample extraction, database creation and management, and statistical support

Core Assays and Service

Bioreposotory Subcore

The Biorepository includes samples (kidney tissue, blood and urine) collected from individuals undergoing elective or emergent kidney biopsy, patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) or chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetes mellitus, and those undergoing exposure to potentially nephrotoxic chemotherapy or other potential nephrotoxins.

Human Metabolic Phenotype Subcore (VHMP)

Specific areas of expertise of the subcore include:

Quantifying key metabolic pathways in kidney disease, including, but not limited to, macronutrient metabolism such as carbohydrate, amino acid and lipid substrate studies using stable isotopes, substrate clamp studies, and assessment of inflammation, oxidative stress and mitochondrial function in blood, urine and tissues
Accurate and reliable measurement of physical activity, energy balance and nutrition status
Measurement of tissue salt content by Na-MRI (sodium MRI)
Training and education of core investigators, fellows and students in the aforementioned methodologies and techniques