The Integrated Health Sciences Core (IHSC) facilitates interaction between basic and applied science, leading to the translation of research findings into public health practice. By connecting investigators across disciplines who utilize Center cores, and facilitating access to our rich resources of study data and associated biorepositories, we aim to advance understanding of the environment’s impact on health.

Expertise is available for both classical problems in study design, data collection/specimen protocol development, and statistical analysis through consultation with Core staff and by facilitating collaborations with appropriate experts for specialized problems in areas such as case-cohort sampling, epigenetics/epigenomics, gene-environment interactions, and multi-pollutant exposures. Core staff review study designs and sample size strategies for pilot and other grant submissions and provide guidance on best practice in data and specimen collection and storage, and in data processing and management. Consultancies are provided without fee to Center members for proposal development, with ongoing analytic support included as part of grant applications.

Consultation

The IHSC provides translational consultation to assist Center investigators in identifying ways that our associated biorepositories and Cores can be used in preparing pilot projects or full grant proposals. Biostatistical consultation and collaboration are provided to help ensure that Center studies are well designed, and that appropriate statistical methodology is used in their analysis. This service includes guidance with general study design, feasibility, specimen collection fundamentals, case report form development and human subjects regulations, as well as re-directing investigators to appropriate collaborators for more in-depth and specialized collaboration or consultation (e.g., detailed study design or assay methods).

Infrastructure & Access

In conjunction with the Omics & BioInformatics Core (OBIC) and Administrative Cores, we identify physical facilities for specimen storage, labeling, and integration with instrumentation for subsequent analyses.

Consultation on community-based environmental health problems

The IHSC assists the community outreach and engagement core in developing statistically rigorous assessment methods. Furthermore, the graduate students in the Department of Biostatistics run a community outreach organization called STATCOM which offers free consultation to non-profit organizations and can help with community based projects.

Kiosk

Addressing health-related problems linked to the environment requires multidisciplinary approaches and effective use of technology. At the same time, there is a need to optimize the animal models, human populations, data, and analytical/computational approaches that already exist, so that they can provide new insights. The IHSC will coordinate all of these efforts with an internet-based portal of searchable information – the Interactive Kiosk. The kiosk is the gateway to accessing information about studies, associated biorepositories, and services within the EHS Core Center and broader UM community that are relevant to our objectives.

• Click to search for Animal/Human Specimens and Data (UM login required).
• Click to download more information about Repository Support Requests.

University of Cincinnati Center for Environmental Genetics

Are you or a colleague designing a study and wondering about the best approaches to biomonitoring and the handling of biospecimens? Are you writing a grant and wish to maximize the chances of a successful application? The Integrated Health Science Facilities (IHSF) Core of the Center for Environmental Genetics at the University of Cincinnati has convenient online resources at eh.uc.edu/ceg/human-biomonitoring. There you will find videos, slide presentations, protocol templates and other resources designed to help you with real-world issues, such as:

• When to collect your biospecimen(s)?
• How does the half-life of the biomarker fit into the design?
• Out in the field with your study: How long do you have to get those samples back to the lab?
• Freezers, box maps, shipping, inventories: What do you need to know?