SABER Projects
BASIC: The Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi project
Principal Investigators: Lynda D. Lisabeth, PhD, MPH and Lewis B. Morgenstern, MD
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi (BASIC) project is an ongoing stroke
surveillance study that began in 1999. SABER began providing data management and programming
services to support this study in 2014. BASIC is the only ongoing stroke surveillance
project focusing on Mexican-Americans. Since the inception of this project, over 5,000
cerebrovascular disease patients have been followed.
View study website
BASIC: Cognitive
Principal Investigator: Lewis B. Morgenstern, MD
Sponsor: NIH
This study uses door-to-door surveillance in Nueces County, Texas, a non-immigrant,
bi-ethnic community, to determine the prevalence and trajectory over time of cognitive
impairment and dementia in Mexican Americans and non Hispanic whites. The study will
evaluate the roles of vascular disease risk factors, educational attainment and socio-economic
status, community resources and caregiving roles to examine ethnic disparities. SABER
provides data management and programming for this study.
View study website
BASIC: Outcomes Among Surrogate Decision Makers In Stroke (OASIS)
Principal Investigators: Darin Zahuranec, MD and Lewis B. Morgenstern, MD
Sponsor: NIH
Often, people with stroke need help from another person to make decisions about important
medical treatments. However, we know very little about the experience and outcomes
of these family members who make medical decisions for a loved one with a stroke.
This study aims to answer important questions about how doctors communicate with family
decision makers during these difficult times, how people make decisions for stroke
patients, and the long-term impact on those who serve as decision-makers for stroke
patients. SABER provides data management and programming for this study.
View study website
BASIC: Sleep Studies
Principal Investigators: Devin L. Brown, MD, MS and Lynda D. Lisabeth, PhD, MPH
Sponsor: NIH
The University of Michigan Stroke Program investigates multiple aspects of post-stroke
sleep apnea in patients in Corpus Christi, Texas. (1) An NHLBI-funded ancillary study
assessed the frequency of sleep-disordered breathing after stroke, and the relationship
of this sleep disorder to stroke outcomes. (2) The NINDS-funded sleep apnea study
is designed to investigate health disparities related to sleep apnea in stroke patients.
(3) An NHLBI-funded ancillary study investigates the association between nocturnal
rostral fluid shifts and sleep apnea severity. (4) Finally, an NINDS-funded longitudinal,
population-based study of sleep apnea and stroke outcomes is performed to improve
the identification and management of important sleep apnea after stroke, provide critical
data to plan future clinical trials, and explore a potential target to reduce an important
ethnic health disparity. SABER provides data management and programming for these
studies.
View study website
CAPTURE: Validating a Unique COPD Case Finding Tool in Primary Care
Principal Investigators: Fernando Martinez, Weill-Cornell and Meilan Han, University
of Michigan
Sponsor: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
CAPTURE is a large prospective study which explores the impact of the CAPTURE screening
tool for COPD on clinical care and patient outcomes across a broad range of primary
care settings in a cluster randomized controlled clinical trial. The study will enroll
approximately 5,000 patients across 100 participating primary care clinics associated
with practice-based research networks (PBRNs). Participants will be assessed with
the CAPTURE tool and have research spirometry testing. The tool will be compared against
the spirometry testing. In addition, participating primary care practices will be
randomized in a 1:1 fashion to receiving either a general COPD education module, or
a COPD module that includes training on the use of the CAPTURE tool, to assess the
12-month impact on patient outcomes.
View study intranet
ChiLDREN: The Childhood Liver Disease Research and Education Network
Principal Investigator: John Magee, MD
Sponsor: National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
ChiLDREN is a network of 15 clinical sites conducting clinical trials and cohort studies
of children with rare liver diseases. The ChiLDREN Network was developed to support
the discovery of new diagnostics, etiologic, and treatment options for children with
liver disease, and those who undergo liver transplantation. SABER partners to provide
statistical analysis, clinical monitoring, project management, and clinical research
administration to support this series of studies.
View study website
Citalopram: Citalopram as a Posterior Cortical Protective Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease
Principal Investigator:Vikas Kotagal, MD, MS
Sponsor:National Institute of Aging (NIA)
Citalopram is a 5-year proof-of-concept Parkinson disease clinical trial aimed at
delaying visuospatial cognitive decline, a critical component of Parkinson disease
dementia. This is a single-site, phase 2, double-blind, and placebo-controlled study.
Participants with Parkinson disease will be enrolled in the study for 28-months, and
will receive either 20mg of citalopram daily, or matching placebo. They will undergo
PET and MRI imaging, as well as cognitive and clinical testing. SABER is the DCC
for this project and will provide project management, data management, software development,
and statistical analysis.
Study website coming soon...
DFC: Diabetic Foot Consortium
Principal Investigator: Cathie Spino, ScD
Sponsor: NIDDK
The Diabetic Foot Consortium (DFC) is a network of 6 clinical sites, several biomarker
analysis units and the data coordinating center (DCC) that will conduct studies to
validate biomarkers for diabetic foot ulcers. Future studies may expand to include
clinical trials. SABER is the DCC for this consortium and provides the project management,
data management, clinical monitoring, software development, and statistical analysis
for this study. Presently, three observational studies are in development: c-myc (c-myc
and phosphorylated glucocorticoid receptor), TEWL (Trans-epidermal Water Loss) and
Biorepository.
View study website
Doxycycline for Emphysema in People Living with HIV (DEPTH)
Study PIs: Robert Kaner, MD and Marshall Glesby, MD
Sponsor: NHLBI
DEPTH (Doxycycline for Emphysema in People Living with HIV) is a phase 2, multicenter,
randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Based on randomization,
participants will receive 100 mg doxycycline BID or placebo for 72-weeks. The primary
objective is to determine if doxycycline reduces progression of emphysema relative
to placebo as measured by rate of decline (slope) of present predicted diffusing capacity
for carbon monoxide (DLco) corrected for hemoglobin, carboxyhemoglobin, and barometric
pressure (indicated as ppDLcoadj) over the 72-week treatment period. SABER is the
DCC for this project and will provide project management, data management, clinical
monitoring, software development and statistical analysis for the clinical trial.
EMERGE: Emergency Medicine Education and Research by Global Experts
Principal Investigator: Prashant Mahajan, MD MPH MBA
EMERGE is a pilot project to develop an international network of experts in emergency
room departments to collaborate in research and share emergency medicine-related education.
SABER is assisting this project by developing a combined dataset derived from electronic
medical records from 10 countries (and counting) to describe the departments in each
country, to answer research questions, and to create a platform for prospective research
initiatives. As the project evolves from pilot stage, SABER will provide project management,
software development, and statistical analysis support for its clinical research initiatives.
View study website
Lipodystrophy Syndromes to Determine Prevalence, Incidence and Predictors of Diabetes
and Severe Hypertriglyceridemia, and their Complications (LYNC-LD)
Study PI: Elif Oral, MD
Sponsor: Originally funded by Aegerion Pharmaceuticals. Now funded by Lipodystrophy
Research Fund established at the University of Michigan.
LYNC-LD is a prospective multicenter natural history study of Lipodystrophy Syndromes
to Determine Prevalence, Incidence and Predictors of Diabetes and Severe Hypertriglyceridemia,
and their Complications. This is an international, multicenter, prospective registry
study of patients with lipodystrophies to define true prevalence estimates and document
a thorough snapshot of the natural history of lipodystrophies in the contemporary
era. Approximately 500 participants will be enrolled with all forms of lipodystrophy
syndromes. Their participation will last approximately 4 years while we collect robust
clinical, metabolic, morbidity, and mortality data. The primary aim is to determine
the natural history of common metabolic complications of lipodystrophy syndromes,
including diabetes mellitus and severe hypertriglyceridemia (fasting serum TG ≥ 500
mg/dL) in various subtypes of lipodystrophy syndromes, and to determine the incidence
rates of clinical outcomes related to these metabolic complications in participants
without these complications at baseline and describe the predictive value of their
baseline characteristics for the these clinical outcomes. SABER is the DCC for this
project and will provide project management, data management, and statistical analysis
for this clinical trial.
MANAGE HF: A Multifaceted Adaptive Mobile Application to Promote Self-Management and
Improve Outcomes in Heart Failure
Principal Investigator: Michael Dorsch, PharmD, MS
Sponsor: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Manage HF is a Phase 3, multicenter, 12 week, randomized, and double-blind clinical
trial. This study will investigate the effectiveness of two contextual just-in-time
adaptive interventions (JITAIs) delivered via a mobile app for patients with heart
failure. The clinical worsening intervention targets self-management of behaviors
to prevent worsening of a patient’s heart failure symptoms. The dietary sodium intervention
promotes lower sodium intake. Eligible participants will be randomized to the dietary
sodium intervention, the clinical worsening intervention, both interventions, or no
intervention in a 1:1:1:1 manner, stratified by site, gender, and heart failure type
(HFpEF versus HFrEF).
View Study Website
MiACLR: Michigan Initiative for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rehabilitation
Principal Investigator: Riann Palmieri-Smith, PhD
Funded by: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
This study is a single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, and parallel-group
clinical trial to examine the combined efficacy of neuromuscular electrical stimulation
(NMES) and eccentric exercise (ECC) to promote the recovery of quadriceps strength,
improve physical and biomechanical function, and reduce the risk of post-traumatic
osteoarthritis (OA) after ACLR.
Study website coming soon...
Michigan eArly disease Progression cohort in COPD (MAP COPD)
Investigators: MeiLan Han, MD, MS; Wassim Labaki, MD, MS; Jeffrey Curtis, MD; Craig
Galban, PhD
Sponsor: Taubman Institute and COPD Foundation
Michigan eArly disease Progression cohort in COPD (MAP COPD) is and observational
study looking to gather new knowledge regarding screening for COPD and to understand
the burden of early COPD disease in patients. The aim of this study is to develop
a disease progression cohort within the University of Michigan Health System to capture
pulmonary function, symptom assessments and quantitative imaging among patients at
risk for or with an established diagnosis of COPD, focusing however on “early” COPD
(age 30-60 and GOLD stage 0,1 and 2). Once the cohort is established, these data
can subsequently be used to (a) understand how to identify this patient population
within a health system and describe their symptom, exacerbation, radiologic and comorbidity
burden; (b) collect longitudinal information to understand disease trajectory in this
unique patient population; and (c) leverage this highly characterized patient pool
for subsequent therapeutic clinical trials. Ultimately, creation of this cohort at
the University of Michigan would establish a model that could be applied within other
health systems for establishing pools of well characterized, early stage patients
at risk for disease progression to be leveraged for future studies
View study website
MOIDS: Missed Opportunities for Improving Diagnosis in Pediatric Emergency Care
Principal Investigator: Prashant Mahajan, MD MPH MBA
Sponsor: NIH Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
MOIDS is an observational study to test an electronic health record (EHR) algorithm
for identifying missed opportunities for diagnosis. The EHR-based algorithm and non-EHR
measures will be reviewed across 5 pediatric emergency departments retrospectively
and iteratively to refine the algorithms. Then the refined and tested algorithms will
be applied to all pediatric ED visits at the sites prospectively. Expert reviewers
will then assess all identified cases for judgement on whether the cases are missed
opportunities, reviewing patient-related factors, patient-provider interactions, diagnostic
tests, follow-up and tracking of diagnostic information, and referrals. Inter-rater
reliability will be assessed. Frequency of MOIDS and characteristics associated with
MOIDS will be assessed, along with the performance characteristics of the algorithm.
SABER provides data management and statistical support for this study.
View study website
PFF-R: Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Registry and Biorepository
Principal Investigator: Cathie Spino, PhD
Sponsor: Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation
The PFF-R is a prospective collection of data from over 2,000 patients with interstitial
lung disease, coming from over 40 Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Care Center Network
sites across the United States. Interstitial lung disease describes a diverse group
of conditions where, in general, the lung tissue becomes thickened, stiff, and scarred
(pulmonary fibrosis). This data is then made available to researchers for advance
our knowledge about this disease. SABER provides project and data management for this
study, and also provides statistical analysis, based on this collection of data, for
8-12 substudies per year which are proposed by interested researchers.
View study website
PRECISIONS: Prospective Treatment Efficacy in IPF Using Genotype for NAC Selection
Data Coordinating Center (DCC) Principal Investigators: Cathie Spino, ScD, and Kevin
Flaherty, MD, University of Michigan
Clinical Coordinating Center (CCC) Principal Investigators: Fernando Martinez, MD,
Weill Cornell, and Imre Noth, MD, University of Virginia
Sponsor: NHLBI
PRECISIONS is a 6-year project which utilizes the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Registry
and Biorepository (see separate entry on this page) to perform a whole genome sequencing
and proteomic analysis of around 1,400 people with interstitial lung disease. As
a proof of concept of how this data can be utilized to create a more precise approach
to medicine, the project includes a large double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized
trial that will determine if people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) who have
the TOLLIP rs3750920 TT genotype will benefit from the use of N-acetylcysteine (NAC)
in addition to standard of care for IPF. SABER is the DCC for this project and will
provide project management, data management, clinical monitoring, software development
and statistical analysis for the clinical trial.
RETHINC: REdefining THerapy IN early COPD
Principal Investigators: MeiLan Han, MD and Prescott Woodruff, MD, MPH
Sponsor: NHLBI
RETHINC is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial that aims to determine
if current or former smokers with breathing problems despite normal breathing tests
(spirometry) will benefit from the use of a bronchodilator, indacaterol/glycopyrrolate
(Utibron™), for the treatment of airflow obstruction in patients with chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD). The result of this trial will provide new fundamental clinical
and therapeutic knowledge regardless of the outcome and important evidence that may
contribute to the guidelines for the management of early COPD. SABER collaborates
with investigators as the DCC for this study.
View study website
SLSIII: Scleroderma Lung Study
Principal Investigator: Dinesh Khanna, MD, MSC
Sponsor: BMS
SLS III is an investigator-initiated clinical research study focused on examining
the combined anti-fibrotic effects of pirfenidone (PFD) with mycophenolate (MMF) for
treating sclerodera-related interstitial lung disease. This research tests whether
combining pirfenidone and mycophenolate will result in a more rapid and possibly greater
improvement in lung function than when mycophenolate is used alone. While both of
these drugs have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat
other medical conditions, neither drug has been FDA-approved for the treatment of
scleroderma-related lung disease. SABER provides project management, clinical monitoring,
data management, software programming, and statistical analysis for this study.
View study website
THRIVE: Feasibility Study for the Trajectories of Recovery After Intravenous Propofol
vs Inhaled Volatile Anesthesia Trial
Principal Investigators: Michael Avidan, MBBCH, FCASA and Sachin Kheterpal, MD, MBA
Sponsor: PCORI
The THRIVE feasibility study is looking at one of two different methods of anesthesia
(total intravenous anesthesia with propofol or inhaled volatile anesthesia) will be
given to participants during elective non-cardiac surgeries. The objective of this
study is to evaluate the feasibility of a pragmatic, large-scale, comparative effectiveness,
randomized evaluation of patient experience of intravenous propofol vs. inhaled volatile
anesthesia. The THRIVE study is looking to establish the proportion of patients who
agree to participate, expressed as a fraction of those approached to enter the study;
evaluate the proportion of patients who receive each random treatment allocation per
protocol; and pilot data capture instruments and data management tools to assess the
completeness of data collection and data management procedures. SABER provides study
design and oversight, enrollment reporting, statistical analysis, data collection
infrastructure, informatics pipelines, and participant interaction for this study.
TRAIL1: Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis Interstitial Lung Disease
Principal Investigator: Ivan Rosas, MD
Sponsor: Genentech
This study is a phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of pirfenidone
for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis associated interstitial lung disease. The
primary aim of the study will assess the efficacy and safety of pirfenidone 2403 mg/day
versus placebo in patients with RA-associated ILD. The primary efficacy outcome is
defined by a composite endpoint of decline from baseline in percent predicted FVC
of 10% or greater or death during the 52 week treatment period. Patients will receive
blinded study treatment from the time of randomization until the Week 52 Visit. There
will be 270 participants from approximately 40 sites in the United States, Canada
and the United Kingdom enrolled in this study. SABER collaborates with investigators
as the DCC for this study.
View study website
Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed)
Principal Investigator: Goncalo Abecasis, Ph.D.
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
(NHLBI)
The TOPMed Informatics Research Center (IRC) at the University of Michigan provides
advice to participating studies, sequencing centers and staff at the National Institutes
of Health on the handling, processing and interpretation of large-scale sequence data.
The IRC will jointly analyze sequence data and aid study investigators with informatics
challenges, particularly for cross study analyses. A key goal of the Informatics Research
Center is to make study results easily accessible to a broad range of scientists.
SABER is responsible for assisting the IRC with obtaining and managing any missing
and/or needed data files (i.e. subject consent, subject sample mapping, sample attributes,
pedigree and phenotype) for dbGaP upload and submission for curator review. Additional
support includes preview and approval of dbGaP submissions prior to release to the
public as well as uploading of omics data (RNA sequencing, DNA methylation and metabolomics)
via the dbGaP submission portal.
View study website
Udall The University of Michigan Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease
Research
Principal Investigators: William Dauer, MD and Roger Albin, MD
Sponsor: NINDS
Up to 70% of patients with Parkinson's disease fall each year, quadrupling the rate
of hip fractures, leading to extended hospitalizations, increased use of skilled nursing
facilities and eventual nursing home placement. UM scientists have developed breakthrough
evidence that these falls, which are resistant to currently available treatments,
arise from the degeneration of brain cells that use the neurochemical acetylcholine.
By integrating neuroimaging, behavioral and pharmacological studies in patients with
Parkinson's disease and in animal models, we aim to further dissect the relationship
between falls and abnormalities in these brain cells, and to develop the data necessary
to launch a clinical trial of a novel treatment for these debilitating symptoms of
Parkinson's disease. SABER acts as the biostatistics and data management center for
this series of studies.
View study website