TUSKEGEE
UNIVERSITY
SHARED RESOURCES for
NIH/NCMHHD
PROJECT EXPORT
PARTNERS
Research and Education
Facilities and Resources
Facilities in the School of
Veterinary Medicine:
Contact: Dr.
Alfonza Atkinson, Dean
Phone:
334-727-8174
The physical complex assigned to the School of
Veterinary Medicine provides approximately 184,440 square feet to
accommodate the programmatic activities of the School. The buildings
are: Rosenwald Center; F. D. Patterson Hall; Clinical/Anatomy
Building; Post Mortem Building; Large Animal Care Center; Large
Animal C-Ward; Large Animal H-Ward; Williams &endash; Bowie Hall
which includes a new Centralized laboratory animal facility expected
to be completed by 2003 as well as a new canine surgery and holding
Facility.
Williams - Bowie Hall
(Biomedical Research Building):
Contact:
Dr. T. Habtemariam,
Associate Dean for Research & Graduate
Studies
Phone: 334-727-8013
This facility (64,000 sq. ft.), houses most of
the biomedical research activities of the CVMNAH. The first floor
(30,000 ft2) houses faculty offices, the International Center for
Tropical Animal Health (ICTAH), the Audiovisual/Auto-tutorial (AV/AT)
Center, the Biomedical Information Management Systems (BIMS) offices,
the Biomedical Student Computing Laboratory and the Center for
Computational Epidemiology (CCE). The second floor (24,903 ft2)
houses a large core instrumentation laboratory, core diagnostic
laboratories, a laboratory support area, a tissue culture suite, a
radioisotope laboratory, a total of nine BL-2 research laboratories,
a semen analysis laboratory, two cold rooms, glass wash room, media
preparation room, dark room, a surgical and recovery suite, and
offices for faculty, visiting faculty and staff. The remaining
approximately 10,000 ft2 of the building is scheduled to become a
laboratory animal holding facility.
Facilities in the School of
Nursing and Allied Health Complex:
Contact:
Dr. D. Holeman
Associate Dean and Director
Phone: 334-727-8382
Basil O'Connor Hall, a two-story building,
houses the administrative, lecture rooms and academic support
components for the nursing and allied health programs. Each faculty
member has an adequately sized individual office equipped with
bookshelves, file cabinets, desk/chairs, and computer and printer.
There are five classrooms in the Basil O'Connor Hall building that
are utilized for didactic instruction, seminars and meetings. Located
on the lower level of the building is a large lecture demonstration
classroom. Activities may be videotaped and made available to the
television cable system for distribution to classrooms equipped with
monitors. A complete projection system is located in the rear of the
lecture hall.
Facilities in the College of Agricultural,
Environmental and Natural Sciences (CAENS)
Contact:
Dr. W. Hill, Dean
Phone: 334-727-8157
The George Washington Carver Agricultural
Experimental Station (GWCAES), established in 1897 as the Tuskegee
Agricultural Experiment Station with Dr. George Washington Carver as
the first director. GWCAES, serves as a resource center for carrying
out Tuskegee University's Land Grant mission of teaching, research
and outreach. In cooperation with other campus units and in
partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other
institutions and agencies in the State, Nation and World, GWCAES
research and education programs are focused on plant and animal
production, genetics, breeding and biotechnology; integrated pest
management; environmental quality and justice; forest and natural
resources management; food technology and product development; food
safety; nutrition and health; and sustainable rural & community
socioeconomic development.
Center for Biomedical
Research (CBR) (RCMI/NIH)
Contact:
Dr. W. Sapp, Director
Phone: 334-727-8961
The Carver Research Center contains 17,261 ft2
of research laboratory and office space and houses the University's
Center for Biomedical Research. This unit was established in 1988,
and is supported by the Research Centers in Minority Institutions
(RCMI) Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where 16
faculty, staff and technical personnel conduct research in animal,
computer modeling, in vitro modeling and provide core laboratory
services for scientists. The resources include scanning and
transmission electron microscopy, image analysis, cell sorting, and a
wide range of equipment and resources used in cell biology and
molecular sciences research. A state-of-the-art Coulter Elite Model
Flow Cytometer/Cell Sorter provides capability in cell and nucleic
acid sorting and analysis. The following core laboratories are also
available: Electron Microscopy and Image Analysis, Immunology and
Cell Biology I, Immunology and Cell Biology II, Molecular Biology I,
Molecular Biology II, Cell Culture and Molecular Biology, Cell
Sorting and Computer Analysis, Laboratory for Cell Culture and
Darkroom Radioisotope Laboratory. Facilities dedicated for the
housing of small research animals, i.e. lagomorphs and rodents,
consist of the 2,088 ft2 Centralized Animal Holding Facility and an
approximately 1,764 ft2 modular facility.
The Tuskegee University
National Center for Bioethics in Research &
Healthcare
Contact:
Dr. S. Sodeke, Acting Director
Phone: 334-724-4870
Bioethics appears to hold its rightful place
at the central core in every facet of science and technology. A
myriad set of bioethical issues demand the attention of the nation
and the international community. The ethical issues incorporate a
broad range of relevant scientific and conceptual analyses that arise
from moral claims originating in diverse fields such as veterinary
medicine, medicine, biology, biotechnology, ecology, agriculture,
history, public health, law, humanities, philosophy, religion, and
the social and other disciplines. One of the most egregious abuses of
bioethics in biomedical research is the infamous, so called Tuskegee
Syphilis Study that was conducted by the US Public Health Service on
unsuspecting African American patients during the period 1932 - 1972.
It was a study in medical racism aided by scientific moral
astigmatism perpetrated upon victims who could not give their
informed consent because of their limited understanding.
To correct that abuse of power and trust, the
President of the United States, Mr. William Jefferson Clinton, on May
14, 1997, apologized to the survivors of this human experimentation
as well as to the people of Tuskegee, Macon County and the Nation at
large. Since then, a new Tuskegee University Center for Bioethics in
Research and Health Care was launched. At the Tuskegee University
Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, the capacity to
improve bioethics related research, training and community engagement
among, or of importance to African Americans and other people of
color receives special attention. It is expected that this attention
will result in significant change and improvement in the health of
the nation and in the use of biotechnology. The new Bioethics Center
serves as a focal point for national efforts directed toward the
transformation of the negative legacy of the study and legitimize the
evolving medical discipline of bioethics that is based upon
sensitivity to race, culture and the theological values inherent in
the African-American Community.
Our approach to bioethics includes a focus on
the perspectives and experiences of African Americans and other
minorities, as well as those of the dominant groups. This approach
adds more substance, relevance and fairness to the presentation of
formal and procedural issues of justice, beneficence and autonomy.
The Tuskegee University
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Contact:
Dr. S. Sodeke, Chair, IRB
Phone: 334-724-4870
The Tuskegee University IRB functions closely
with the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care
(TUNCBRHC).
Dr. S. Sodeke, the Acting Director of the (TUNCBRHC)
also serves as Chairperson of a seven member IRB Committee. The IRB
Committee is composed of a diverse group of scientists as well as
representatives from the broader community as specified by the
federal code of regulations.
Additional resources and
laboratories currently available at TU
Contact:
Dr. T. Habtemariam,
Associate Dean for Research & Graduate
Studies
Phone: 334-727-8013
A Centralized Core Instruments Laboratory has
already been in operation at CVMNAH and the following major
instrumentation is already in place. These include:
Spectrophotometer, Ultracentrifuge, High Performance Liquid
Chromatography (HPLC)
used in chemical separation, purification, identification and
quantification of compounds, Gas Chromatograph, Flowcytometer that
allows the measurement of multiple physical characteristics of a
single cell, and a sophisticated image analyzer system. Additional
laboratories available include:
* Core Tissue Culture laboratory
equipped with a biological safety cabinets class type A/B3, tissue
culture Co2 incubator and inset cells incubator.
* Core Molecular biology Laboratory
* Semen laboratory is equipped with state
of the art instruments (Toxicology
IVOS System and related software) for
establis*hing computer assisted semen analysis (CASA) for the rat
and mouse.
* All the laboratories in Centralized
Research Building (Williams-Bowie Hall) are equipped with the
biological safety cabinets.
Existing Resources in
Epidemiology Bioinformatics and Telehealth
Contact:
Dr. T. Habtemariam,
Associate Dean for Research & Graduate
Studies
Phone: 334-727-8013
Through the Biomedical Information Management
Systems (BIMS) and its research counterpart, the Center for
Computational Epidemiology (CCE) of CVMNAH, resources for exploiting
information technology (IT) to advance biomedical research, education
and outreach are in place at the Center for Computational
Epidemiology, Bioinformatics & Risk Analysis (CCEBRA). With grant
'support from several federal agencies, foundations and industry, the
team continues to create and expand the use of cutting edge IT
resources in such areas as Integrated Biomedical Information Systems,
Computer Based Biomedical Education, Internet and World Wide Web MW
resources, Computer Modeling, and Networking. A variety of
Statistical software (BMDP, SAS, SPSS, MINITAB, STATVIEW etc as well
as modeling and risk analysis software are available at this
Center.
Information and Satellite
Technology Capabilities at Tuskegee University:
In support of its academic and administrative
functions, TU has state-of-the-art information technology resources
consisting of physical facilities, computational infrastructure
(hardware and
software) and telecommunications systems. A
unique and state of the art Conference and Hotel Center
(The Kellogg Conference
Center) with advanced electronic technology
resources for hands-on training is available. The Center can
accommodate a large number of conference and workshop attendees. It
also has cutting edge technology resources from interactive
electronic classrooms to satellite uplink/downlink capabilities for
distance learning. Internet access is available in every meeting room
and conference rooms. Satellite resources that enable both satellite
downlink and uplink is available. This is vital to distance learning
and collaborative information sharing and outreach
activities.
Baseline epidemiologic
databases of health disparity in the BBC as a Shared Resource:
We are developing Health Survey Questionnaire,
to carry out a baseline survey in the BBC. Informed consent forms
will be developed, and to ensure privacy all information collected
from the community (via
questionnaires), from medical records and
from death certificates will be coded so the names of individuals and
addresses will not be identifiable or traceable. A coding scheme will
be developed to strip all personal identifiers and to facilitate
paper and electronic record keeping. With permission of the
individuals who are diagnosed with diseases of interest physician's
records will be reviewed.
We will create databases that complement and
supplement existing national ones such as surveillance epidemiology
endpoints results (SEER and
behavioral risk factors surveillance systems)BRFSS.
The new databases and systems will focus on health disparities.
Baseline health and disease data for each of the critical
subpopulations will be created through comprehensive health surveys.
Maintaining these databases through ongoing surveillance to assess
progress to minimize health disparities is important. We will link
with the State of Alabama Cancer Registry database and the State of
Alabama Vital Statistics. The state-based vital statistics will be
complemented by the National Center for Health Statistics database
accessible on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchswww.
Since these health statistics may be inadequate with respect to the
BBC, we plan to supplement these with data collected from these
underserved areas.
Maximizing the use of
advanced information technologies:
The use of current and advanced technologies
of the 21st century in biomedical research, education, training, and
outreach and service is vitally important to address health
disparities. Unfortunately, the so-called "digital divide" already
threatens minority populations who are not in a position to take
advantage of Internet based resources and may be left out of benefits
from information technology advances. Even among higher education
institutions that serve minorities, access to fast Internet
technology is badly lacking. Since fast ethernet and gigabit
technology is important for advancing biomedical research relevant to
addressing health disparities, we plan to develop this capacity as a
Shared Resource. We will also create advanced Internet based
collaborative research resources that promote interaction and sharing
of ideas without limits of time and distance. We will create
videoconferencing resources and promote the use of whiteboards and
real-time two-way interactive resources via the Web. Such resources
will be key to eventually expanding the collaboration beyond Alabama
to the national and international arena, which will ultimately be
crucial for effectively addressing health disparities.
Additional Research,
Outreach and Education Centers
Center for Integrated Study
of Food Animal and: Plant Systems (CISFAPS)
Contact:
Dr. T. Habtemariam, CVMNAH and
Dr. Conrad Bonsi, CAENS
At Tuskegee University's Center for Integrated
Study of Food Animal and Plant Systems (CISFAPS), a systems approach
is used to study the full dimension of food systems (animal and
plants) from food production to consumption. The Center represents a
joint effort between the College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and
Allied Health and the College of Agriculture, Environmental and
Natural Sciences. These programs provide a unique national resource,
at an HBCU in food production, food processing and food safety, as
well as, computer modeling and information systems. The mission is to
advance excellence in teaching, learning of decision making in food
systems (e.g. risk analysis and modeling); create innovative
processes for science-based policy development; and share and
transfer successful food safety intervention strategies nationally
and internationally. A key strategic partnership with selected USDA
agencies has been formed. Collaborative engagements exist with other
federal agencies, universities, corporations, producers, processors
and community groups that assist in integrating research, education
and training, and outreach to enhance lifelong learning and
disseminate information on food safety and security.
NASA Center for Food and
Environmental Systems for Human Exploration of Space (TU-CFESH)
Contact:
Dr. W. Hill, Dean , CAENS
Phone: 334-727-8157
CFESH
research emphasizes Advanced Life Support (ALS) System Development
that addresses NASA's vision for a sustained human presence in space
in the next century. The research focuses on two areas of NASAV
Strategic Plan defined as the Human Exploration and Development of
Space Enterprise (HEDS) and the Space Technology Enterprise (STE).
The unique contribution of CFESH is the development and refinement of
information, technology and systems for growth, processing,
utilization and recycling (waste) of sweet potatoes and peanuts that
meet the design plans of HEDS and STE. The work of CFESH is organized
under four inter- disciplinary research teams of life sciences and
engineering faculty and students charged with developing the
horticultural protocols: and systems and control technologies needed
for ALS. The four teams are: Germplasm Development and Improvement;
Crop Production and Environmental Systems; Waste Management and
Recycling, and Food Technology and Utilization. The Tuskegee Center
is one of the two University research centers in the U.S.
collaborating with four NASA centers on ALS system development for
projected long duration human space missions.
The George Washington
Carver Agricultural Experimental Station (GWCAES)
Contact:Dr.
Conrad Bonsi
CAENS
Phone: 334-727-8157
GWCAES was established in 1897 as the Tuskegee
Agricultural Experiment Station with Dr. George Washington Carver as
the first director. GWCAES serves as a resource center for carrying
out Tuskegee University's Land Grant mission of teaching, research
and outreach. In cooperation with other campus units and in
partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other
institutions and agencies in the State, Nation and World, GWCAES
research and education programs are focused on plant and animal
production, genetics, breeding and biotechnology; integrated pest
management; environmental quality and justice; forest and natural
resources management; food technology and product development; food
safety; nutrition and health; and sustainable rural & community
socio-economic development.
International Programs
Contact:Dr.
E. Carter, Director
Phone: 334-727-8953
Tuskegee University is renowned for nearly 100
years of extensive collaborative efforts in Africa, Asia, Central
America and the Caribbean. The international development programs
are:
a) Research & Development: Our
faculty and scientists have collaborated with developing country
universities and research institutes on research projects in
sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management;
Biotechnology, Environmental Science, Agro forestry, Food Science
and Technology, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Animal
Nutrition, Crop Science, Agricultural Economics, and Small
Business Development;
b) Adaptive Technical Assistance: Tuskegee
allows its faculty & staff to provide technical assistance in
project design and evaluation, feasibility study and extension
work,
c) Cost-Effective Participant Training: The
University has experience in curriculum development and providing
short-term training in a variety of areas; and
d) Study Abroad: Tuskegee seeks to provide
internships to its students and also opportunity for participating
in overseas research and experiential learning.
Southern Food Systems
Education Consortium
Contact:
Dr. W. Hill, Dean
CAENS
Phone: 334-727-8157
The Southern Food Systems Education consortium
(SOFSEC) is composed of nine] 890 land grant universities in the
Southern "Black-Belt" Region funded by the WK. Kellogg Foundation to
develop foods and environmental systems education professionals and
leaders for the twenty-first century. Tuskegee University serves as
headquarters for this region-wide consortium, which has focused on
nine regional food and environmental systems related projects,
including among others, community development, K-12
"hands-on"
science projects, small farm and agribusiness entrepreneur
development, changing faculty reward systems, and undergraduate
student science laboratory experiential learning projects. These
activities include hundreds of SOFSEC faculty, staff, students and
their external stakeholders from across the Southeastern region and
the nation. SOFSEC participants have worked collectively and
strategically with their university presidents, state and federal
legislators, USDA administrators and community-based leaders to
implement new state and federal legislation during 1996-2000) that
has provided new funding for research and extension programs and
facilities for the 1890 land-grant universities and Tuskegee
University.
Cooperative Extension
Program and Continuing Education
Contact person:
Dr. Velma Blackwell
Associate Provost and Director
727 8601
Tuskegee University Cooperative extension
program is part of the Alabama State cooperative extension system.
TUCEP has permanent resident county agents in all the Alabama black
belt counties. Each county agent works as an outreach personnel with
local authorities, cooperative groups, and individuals to identify
and address their needs and concerns in the areas of economic
development, education and health. They remain the resource persons
for the counties and it is through them mostly that TU resources are
tapped. County fairs are organized periodically in collaboration with
churches, schools and local arts and cultural organizations to focus
on different issues such as work force development initiatives, water
and sewage problems. Chronic diseases such as Diabetes,
Cardiovascular diseases prevention classes, food & nutrition for
life and Cancer awareness programs are also often addressed by
invited experts from the university. TUCEP works in conjunction with
the continuing education unit to provide year round educational
packages with transferable credit units for students who need them.
They also conduct hands-on training workshop services for those black
belt county residents who work in small-scale meat, poultry and other
foods processing plants.
SHARED RESOURCES CORE
COMPONENT
Coordinators:
T.
Habtemariam
S.
Sodeke
September
2003
Specific Aims:
To create a Shared Resource Core, with the
national Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care as a key
component, to support the research, training, education, and
community outreach and information dissemination activities of the
proposed Center. The Shared Resource Core will enable scientists and
scholars to share facilities and complex research instrumentation,
databases and information systems to exploit advanced technologies of
applied genomic, bio-informatics, health and information technology
to reduce or eliminate health disparities through sharing and
collaborative research.
* Specific Aim
#1: Establish a Shared Core
Instrumentation laboratory, sharable facilities as well as trained
technicians to support the Ph.D. level training of African
American and other underrepresented minority biomedical scientists
including postdoctoral, Ph.D. trainees, and undergraduate students
committed to public service to eliminate health disparities in
minority populations by year 2005.
*
Specific Aim #2: By the end of the
first two years of the project (2004), establish baseline health
and disease data for the Black Belt Counties through a
comprehensive health survey and make these data shareable on the
World Wide Web (WWW)
by scientists and interested parties.
* Specific Aim
#3: To create a comprehensive Health
Disparities and Telehealth Virtual Resources Center to bring the
most current, reliable and ethically sound health information to
be shared by minority populations and scientists dedicated to
addressing health disparities.
* Specific Aim
#4: To provide at least two in-service
and training workshops per year in order to upgrade the level of
expertise of faculty, staff and students in the resources
available at the Center for Bioethics, in the use of complex
instrumentation and in the various technology based databases and
resources.
* Specific Aim
#5: By the end of year one of the
projects, to develop quality assurance systems designed to collect
data and feedback on the utilization of shared resources, assess
the operations and refine in an ongoing manner to ensure high
quality services.
* Specific Aim
#6: By the end of 2004, the bioethics
work will be integrated into the shared resource core. The
National Bioethics Center will itself be a resource to be shared
with campus scientist, graduate and doctoral students working in
minority health disparities research.
COMPONENTS of the SHARED
RESOURCES CORE
The TU Shared Resources Core is composed of
six subcomponents (figure 1). The Shared Resources Core components
are: Bioethics, Core Instrumentation Laboratory, Epidemiologic
Databases, Statistics, Information Management and Bioinformatics,
Telehealth and Telemedicine Virtual Resources, and Service and
Training.
Summary of Progress
&endash; Year 1
* The Shared Resources
Core composed of at least 12 individuals with multidisciplinary
expertise in public health, epidemiology, nursing, allied
health sciences, bioethics, social sciences and other related
areas, held several meetings to review, discuss and develop
strategies for implementing the Shared Resources Core
activities. Based on these meetings, four teams were created.
The four teams respectively are: Core instrumentation,
Bioethics training activities, Psychosocial issues, and
Epidemiology & Databases teams. Over the past few months,
each team has continued to implement their respective areas of
responsibilities.
* The Shared Resources core budget for
year 1 has been used to acquire reagents and equipment needed
to promote the Core laboratories at TU. In this respect, the
first task was to focus upon Specific
aim #1 so as to "Establish
a Shared Core Instrumentation laboratory, sharable facilities
as well as trained technicians to support the Ph.D. level
training of African American and other underrepresented
minority biomedical scientists".
The Core Instrumentation team has prepared a list of core
shareable instrumentation available at TU with descriptions for
use of the instrumentation, where the equipment are located
along with other relevant information all designed to promote
sharing of these resources. A core number of scientists who
will use these resources in biomedical research and training
have also been identified. These resources will now be ready to
support the PhD trainees and others slated for Year 2 of the
project.
* Members of the Shared Resources team
have attended meetings held with counterparts from the
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa (UAT).
A TU scientist attended a mini conference at University of
Alabama, (UAT)
Tuscaloosa, on Health Literacy as part of a strategy to address
health disparities. We also organized four town meetings in
Montgomery and Tuskegee, within the reporting period. The
meetings were to inform and educate the stakeholders on
resources available to them through EXPORT
project.
* The Epidemiology databases team has
continued to review available databases that can be exploited
to provide the baseline data for Health Disparity studies in
Alabama with a special focus on the Black Belt counties and
rural counties of Alabama. This activity is ongoing and will
eventually serve as the core shareable set of databases for
scientists.
* A Health Disparity website has been
initiated (referred
to as TUHealthNet) and further
enhancements is under way. This website will eventually be
linked with one that is under development at UAT.
Alternatively, the two websites can be made operational in
parallel while interlinked to share resources. This way, the
Shared Resources at each institution can be maintained while
promoting interdisciplinary research that maximizes the use of
existing and shareable resources.
* We have recruited and filled two of
the faculty and staff positions for the Shared Resources Core.
An epidemiologist (Dr. Lekan Ayanwale) and a Systems Analyst
(Mrs. Ashrafi Afroze) have joined the Shared Resources Core
Staff at TU.
* As part of the strategy to promote
sharing of biomedical research activities that re in progress
at each of the collaborating institutions (i.e.
at TU and UAT) as well as to address
national issues dealing with Health Disparities, the TU Shared
Resources Core Team is organizing a Biomedical Research
Symposium that focuses on Health disparities and the role of
Project Export in Eliminating Health Disparities in the rural
and Black Belt Counties (BBC) of Alabama. This Symposium is
scheduled for June 26 &endash; 27, 2003 at the Kellogg
Conference Center at Tuskegee University.
