Core 1 (C1)

Systems Serology

C1 Lead: Ryan McNamara (Senior Staff Scientist, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard)

Under C1, in depth comprehensive characterization will be performed on the humoral immune response to improve our understanding of the mechanisms by which the immune system changes throughout pregnancy, how these changes affect responses to vaccines, and how infants benefit from maternal immunity and in turn respond to vaccines. Specifically, C1 will exploit and evolve Systems Serology to broadly and deeply probe the nature of the humoral immune response in a sample sparing manner, via the development of multiplexed-antibody profiling approaches. Additionally, C1 will develop lower-throughput functional assays to probe the interaction between antibodies (Ab) and host-innate immune cells, in a fully autologous fashion, to define the overall impact of altered antibody and cellular state in pregnancy and early life. Thus C1 will deeply interrogate and define changes in humoral immunity throughout pregnancy, at birth, and throughout early infant life. The Core leader will provide the expertise, infrastructure, reagents, personnel, and training to ensure the efficient and successful analysis and deployment of this technology under P1 & P3, as well as support in generating data for P2 & P4. Thus the main role of this Core is to provide the leadership and the technical expertise to ensure that antibody assays are run in a standard fashion, that novel technologies evolve from this Core to support the needs of the overall Consortium, and that the Consortium is kept abreast of the latest developments in assessing antibody responses.

Core 2 (C2)

Data Management and Biostatistics

C2 Lead: Anne Hoen, Ph.D. (Associate Professor, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College)

The large quantity of data resulting from this program will require interpretation through diverse analytic approaches. C2 will support all research Projects by providing services enabling efficient and secure management of data, rigorous biostatistical analysis, and bioinformatic pipeline implementation. C2 will also support MADI’s commitment to rigor and transparency through innovation in resource sharing. C2 will serve MADI with a custom-built, secure central database that will ensure data integrity and consistency across projects; streamline data processing, cleaning and quality control; and allow for real-time data exploration via an interactive, secure, web-based data explorer. C2 will provide all projects robust and reliable analytics in the form of univariate, multivariate and state of-the-art high dimensional biostatistical analysis as well as consultation on bioinformatics pipeline implementation. Finally, C2 will further support MADI in enhancing transparency and reproducibility not only by coordinating raw data sharing through traditional repositories but also through innovation in freely distributing containerized dataset/software to the research community and curating and freely distributing novel immune signature discoveries made by MADI.

Administrative Core

Admin Core LEAD: MARCELA PASETTI, PH.D. (PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND)

The Administrative Core, based at University of Maryland, Baltimore, will organize, coordinate, and facilitate all administrative activities associated with the participating Projects and Cores. The Admin Core’s main tasks include: 1) to manage MADI’s administrative and fiscal operations and facilitate the attainment of research objectives; 2) to foster effective communication among investigators to facilitate integration, collaboration, and synergy within MADI; and 3) to monitor scientific progress, monitor effective use of Core services, and maintain internal quality control. The Administrative Core will be service-oriented. Its goals will be to help investigators conduct research of the highest quality and productivity, and to achieve and surpass MADI’s scientific goals.