PROGRAMS
Collaborations
CoSMM members collaborate extensively with investigators in and outside of MCW on microRNA, epigenomics, and related translational research. CoSMM members have provided expertise, training, or assistance in these areas to help laboratories in the MCW departments shown in the graph below to develop studies or grants.
Programs led by CoSMM Members
RIGERR
RIGERR (Resources for Investigating Genetic and Epigenetic Regulation of Renal Disease)
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) has awarded MCW a five-year, $5 million grant to fund the RIGERR (Resources for Investigating Genetic and Epigenetic Regulation of Renal Disease) Program. The goal of RIGERR is to generate innovative resources and tools of high research community-wide value for elucidating the mechanism by which human DNA sequence variants contribute to kidney disease. The grant is funded by NIDDK’s RC2 “High Impact, Interdisciplinary Science” program. Dr. Mingyu Liang is the Principal Investigator of RIGERR. RIGERR includes 12 co-Investigators and consultants from seven institutions in two countries.
Epigenomics of Hypertension
Dr. Liang directed one of the four centers in the nation that form the American Heart Association Strategically Focused Hypertension Research Network. The center consisted of basic, clinical, and population science projects led by Dr. David Mattson, Dr. Srividya Kidambi, and Dr. Theodore Kotchen, working with Dr. Cowley, Dr. Pengyuan Liu, and other investigators. The three projects collectively tested the hypothesis that lifestyle factors and gene-environment interactions cause genome-wide changes in DNA methylation, which contribute to the development of hypertension and can be used as predictive or diagnostic markers of hypertension and related diseases.
Genetics and Epigenetics of BP Regulation
CoSMM investigators and collaborators recently obtained a $11.8 million Program Project Grant (PPG) from the NHLBI to study the genetics and epigenetics of human blood pressure regulation using human materials, human induced pluripotent stem cells, and animal models. Dr. Mingyu Liang is Program Director of the PPG and leads the PPG with an Executive Committee that includes Drs. Andy Greene, Aron Geurts, Pengyuan Liu, Yong Liu, Sid Rao, and Allen Cowley
The MARs program is an intellectual hub for artificial intelligence (AI) research at MCW and aims to facilitate collaboration and project development. Current members of the MARs program are involved in the research on machine learning methodologies, the application of AI in healthcare and medical and biomedical research, the ethics of AI, and educational implications of AI.
Dynamic Systems Modeling Program
Our ability to understand dynamic changes occurring within the whole cell, tissue, and body interaction networks (e.g. metabolic networks, signaling networks, protein-protein interaction networks) using reductionist approaches is becoming increasingly difficult due to rapid expansion of small and disconnected subsets of functional interactions occurring at limited time points. The goal of this program is to integrate biological data with computational modeling to quantitatively characterize the underlying relationships between multiple biomarkers and gain novel mechanistic understanding into the biological functions and disease processes. Current areas of focus include tissue and cellular metabolism, mitochondrial bioenergetics, cell cycle regulation, microbial pathogenesis, and immunotherapies. This approach is an essential step towards developing predictive and precision medicine tools for drug therapy.