Research Strategic Planning Committee
May 19, 2014
I.
Using the diagram template developed by Neuroscience, each department described their approaches,
strengths, and areas of development.
IPP

Approaches or techniques important for the department: big data/systems approaches will be
essential

Existing strengths: host response to infection, autoimmunity, cornea/eye strength (still under
discussion), inflammation, age- related changes, possibly women's health.

All other areas need development and will likely be influenced by the selection of the permanent
chair.
DMCB

Approaches: patient-derived iPS cells, structural biology, computational biology, animal models and
tissue equivalents. All of these areas need enhancement - some (iPS cell technology) more than
others (base of structural biology on which to build).

Existing strengths: cancer (including infectious cancer), target identification, cancer stem cells and
the tumor micro-environment. The department could become a national leader in infectious cancer.

Needs development: structural biology, drug design.
MBM

Approaches: tissue engineering, bioinformatics, germ free mice as a tool to study infection

Strengths: food and waterborne disease, nosocomial infection; presence in inflammation

Needs development: TB (Asian health match), microbiome
PHCM

Approaches: qualitative methods, community-engaged research, health communications,
epidemiology and biostatistics

Strengths: infectious diseases, health policy, obesity and chronic disease, global health. Research
areas include technology and health, nutrition and infection, human development and
environmental health

Needs development: spatial and computational epidemiology, health informatics
Neuroscience

Approaches: patient-derived iPs cells, systems analysis of big data imaging, electrophysiology
1

Strengths: autism, epilepsy, obesity, neurodegeneration. Glial-neural interactions and glutamatergic
and GABAergic synaptic transmission are research areas.

Need development: neuro-inflammation, and the two approaches listed above
II. Departmental intersection on inflammation, arc of life/human development, Asian health
The table below describes the intersection of themes discussed with cross-departmental opportunities
that interlace with department-specific priorities.
Inflammation
Arc of life
Asian health
DMCB
IPP
MBM
PHCM
Neuroscience
X
Development
biologists –
pediatric cancers,
young adult
cancers and
cancer in aging
populations
Cancer with focus
on tumors
prevalent in the
Asian population
X
Inflammation as a
progressive
condition
associated with
age
X
Age-related
susceptibility to
different
infectious
diseases
X
X
Autism, epilepsy and
neurodegeneration
TB and food and
waterborne
diseases
Community based
research
III. Proposal for Themes
The group discussed a way of framing research priorities that would encompass the approaches and
needs that have evolved during the planning process. Thinking about an overarching theme, such as
Improving the Quality of Life, was thought to be one possible organizing principle.
1. What: Inflammation is the unifying biological mechanism that could be a hub for multi-disciplinary
research in all five departments. Research in inflammation can be conceived as a biomedical
question centered on mechanisms that bring researchers working on a range of diseases that involve
inflammatory processes. Such diseases include most chronic diseases of health importance. Some
thought must be devoted to conceptualizing inflammation in a way that is understandable to the
broader community and attractive to donors.
2. Who: Touching individuals across the arc of life is an idea that is consistent with the inflammation
concept and expands upon it. This idea also has the potential to encompass personalized medicine,
which is a much broader concept and perhaps beyond the scope of the current planning effort..
3. Where: One population of interest is the community in which we reside. Embedded in the third
largest Chinatown in the US, TUSM has an opportunity to affect these individuals. The migratory
patterns that bring populations to Chinatown, community-based studies and using health
communication research are all areas in which TUSM can make an impact. Asian health incorporates
diseases such as TB, some types of cancer, and how the environment affects a variety of chronic
disease states. This area is ripe for collaboration between TUSM, the HNRCA and Tufts Medical
Center.
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4. How: Bioinformatics to manipulate big data so that cutting edge methodologies can be employed to
underpin research efforts. Big data, computation and systems analysis are needs shared by all
departments. Areas of interest include a variety of state-of-the-art technologies, some of which are
more important for certain faculty groups than others.. For example, analysis of big data sets is an
important component for working on the microbiome while for PHCM, valuable social demographic
and clinical data could be mined from Medicare with the appropriate faculty expertise. Faculty
recruitment is sometimes compromised because we lack these resources.
The group felt that TUSM should have a bioinformatics core program and that we must recruit
faculty who have original research that relies on big data. This idea stems from the fact that faculty
actively engaged in research in an area drive technology forward in ways that cannot always be
accomplished by individuals who staff a core. Some research would be dry and some wet. PHCM
could serve as the home for both the core and faculty, although some faculty might be appointed in
the departments.
Other cores that need to be developed or resourced to study diseases and disease processes are onsite animal models, metabolomics, imaging, tissue engineering, and development of iPS cells. The
group was extremely sensitive to the idea that certain resources needed to be on-site but that
resources available elsewhere related to materials that could be "shipped" outside should not be
duplicated on-site.
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