Core A - AdministrativeCore/Biocomputational Unit

Summary The Administrative Core will continue coordinating the different activities of the four Projects and four Cores of this Program Project (PP). To respond to the demands of the different projects and to properly integrate the large amount of data that will be generated by projects and cores during this period, we have included as a new core component the Biostatistics and Data Management Unit (referred in the PP text as Biostatistics Unit) that will be fully dedicated to data analysis, management, and integration. The long-term goal of this core is two-fold: 1) to serve as the center of integration for the different parts of this collaborative effort and as a liaison of the PP with investigators and resources in and outside our school and 2) to assure that all data will be appropriately collected, managed, analyzed and integrated. The specific aims of this two-component core are: A) Administration (AC): 1) to provide the members of the PP with dedicated administrative and secretarial support required for the functioning of their programs, 2) to coordinate approval for transferring of materials and reagents to other members of the scientific community, 3) to facilitate communication among the different PP members, 4) to monitor and evaluate the scientific progress of the PP, 5) to promote interactions of the PP with Centers with related interests in our school and outside, 6) to increase awareness for aging research. B) Biostatistics and Data Management (BDMU): 1) to provide guidance on study design and formulation of hypothesis, 2) to develop a secure central database system, 3) to implement state-of-the-art techniques for data analysis, 4) to assist with findings interpretation/dissemination, 5) to offer training opportunities in statistical methods. Components: the administrative service, the Executive Committee and the Scientific Advisory Committee (overseen and coordinated by the director) and the experts of the BDMU (overseen by the unit director). Services offered: A) administrative and secretarial support exclusively tailored the needs of this PP (ordering of reagents and supplies, financial and progress reports, assistance with budget management, handling of material transfer agreements), organization of weekly meetings, monthly work-in-progress and of the biannual meetings with the Scientific Advisory Committee. B) experimental design, power analysis, data collection planning, data analysis, large data curation, web-based data integration, data storage, training on statistical analysis and on best practices to assure rigor and reproducibility. Relevance: This core is essential for integration of projects and cores into a cohesive program that allows for faster and efficient progress toward the elucidation of the basis for functional decline of organs and systems with age and in the context of Alzheimer’s disease-related proteotoxicity. In the basis for this cohesive program is the free and efficient communication of scientific results among the members of the program, the active review of progress and utilization of resources and the delineation of a common future goal and direction.