The Clinical Translational Core (CTC) of the IDDRC@WUSTL serves as an essential institutional resource for supporting research that applies scientific discoveries on pathogenic mechanisms of IDD to benefit actual patients through the development of high-impact personalized intervention that is guided by information generated from natural history studies, biomarker development, and clinical trials.
The Specific Aims of the CTC, designed to accelerate translational advances in IDD, are as follows:
- Aim 1: To provide investigators with the expertise, resources, and assessment services needed to conduct comprehensive clinical, behavioral, and genomic characterization of human subjects for IDD research through the HGPCU and CTU, and to leverage this activity with established, state-of-the-art informatics and genomics services at WUSTL to contribute to understanding of the pathogenicity and functional significance of variation in genes influencing the developing human brain.
- Aim 2: To strategically harness services and expertise of allied WUSTL facilities that critically and cost-effectively complement the IDDRC@WUSTL scientific cores to contribute to a discovery pipeline for higher-impact intervention and clinical trials for individuals affected by or at risk for IDD.
- Aim 3: To promote bidirectional interchange between scientific activity in the discovery of pathogenic mechanisms and the testing of novel approaches to IDD prevention and treatment in human subjects and among populations at risk.