Administrative Supplement to Expand Enhancement of the IMHRD Cohort in EXACT-PLAN

Medical University Of South Carolina, Charleston SC

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Abstract

TITLE: Administrative Supplement to Expand Enhancement of the IMHRD Cohort in EXACT-PLAN ABSTRACT. The NIAMS funded parent project planning award entitled: “Enhancing the IMHRD cohort to support study of the exposome in autoimmune disease” seeks to develop resources and strategies needed to examine the role the exposome plays in the development and progression of autoimmune disease within a highly diverse cohort centered on lupus and scleroderma. Achieving this goal will advance NIH’s EXposome in Autoimmune Disease Collaborating Teams PLANning Awards (EXACT-PLAN) initiative by direct contributions to the collaborations, resources, and methodologies necessary to conduct exposome-wide association studies (ExWAS) that can comprehensively assess the role the environment plays in autoimmune disease. The goal of this administrative supplement is to expand the parent grants infrastructure and resources to include emerging directions and priorities identified through new collaborations with the Network for Exposomics in the United States (NEXUS; U24ES036819), HERCULES Exposome Research Center (P30 ES019776), and the NIH OADR/NLM. It is important to note that these directions are within the scope of the original award and directly align with NOT-OD-23-112. This supplement is necessary to address the unforeseen costs associated with achieving goals in three additional projects. The first includes support to develop workflows and resources necessary to facilitate a multi-site geospatial project focused on establishing geographic resources needed to characterize the external exposome for study populations within EXACT-PLAN. This project includes participation from all EXACT-PLAN sites and incorporates extensions recommended by the Geospatial Sciences Hub in NEXUS. The second project will enhance application of exposomics resources and expertise within EXACT-PLAN by establishing a new collaboration with the HERCULES Exposome Research Center and IMHRD. This includes support to access metabolomic, targeted analyses, and data science resources within HERCULES. This supplemental project will build upon the PI’s HHEAR project by incorporate new directions focused on the internal exposome. This will include targeted analyses of biological samples, assistance with analyses of untargeted metabolomics data, and resources to enhance epigenetic research in IMHRD. The third project seeks to establish the bioinformatics resources necessary for preparation of IMHRD resources to participate in a Federated Data Platform. Successful completion of these supplemental projects has multiple benefits as execution will enhance resources and decision-making tools needed to promote success of a future EXACT Network. Secondly, findings will fill important knowledge gaps related to the burden and health impacts of chemical and geographically determined exposures experienced by populations with autoimmune disease.