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IRB No. 16-055-2 (Dr. David Steffens, PI): Department of Psychiatry: Adult Repository

The purpose of the repository is to prospectively collect biological samples along with clinical data to facilitate future research studies and pilot analysis related to medical and behavioral health research.

IRB No. 22-255-2 (Dr. Zhichao Fan, PI): Mechanisms and Roles of Integrin Activation of Cystic Fibrosis Leukocytes

The immune system is the body';s defense against infectious organisms and other invaders. Integrins are key mediators in immunity for the recruitment of white cells which play critical roles in inflammatory diseases. Insights about Integrin function hold out the prospect of improved disease prevention and drug discovery. Integrin molecules stick to body surfaces or cells. They are vital to the successful functioning of the inflammatory response at the source of an insult. In response to inflammation or infection, white cells stick to nearby blood vessels and then crawl along the surface until they can squeeze out of the blood vessel into tissues where they must act. Studying and super imaging these mechanisms and the roles of integrin during this activation will bring new insights about leukocyte recruitment and leukocyte immune functions as well as invite discovery of novel treatments for infectious and inflammatory diseases. This project is investigating how integrins may also affect blood vessels as commonly seen in human heart disease.

IRB No. 23-134-2 (Dr. Julie Robison, PI): UConn Pepper Center (OAIC) Recruitment Volunteer Registry

Objective/Goals: The Research Volunteer Registry (RVR) is a mailing list that is used to invite and share opportunities to participate in future research studies and to community educational events the UConn Pepper Center will host.

IRB No. 24-023J-2 (Dr. Paul Robson, PI): An open resource of human induced pluripotent stem cells lines from diverse population groups

Specific Aims 1. Establish well characterized male and female human induced pluripotent stem cell lines (iPSCs) lines from genetically diverse healthy individuals. 2. Establish clonal sublines from a subset of karyotypically normal iPSC lines and assess their capacity for differentiation and suitability for genome editing. 3. Expand and archive a selected subset of normal, pluripotent iPSC clonal sublines and perform whole genome sequencing (WGS). 4. Release selected iPSC sublines and their genome sequences for distribution to the research community on a cost-recovery basis. Design and Outcomes Participants will provide blood samples (10-15ml) at a single visit for development of iPSC lines with consent for future research use and distribution of iPSC lines to the research community and sharing of genomic data in publicly accessible databases. Sample Size, Population, Interventions and Duration: Up to 103 self-reported healthy adult participants (both male and female) will be enrolled in the study for a single visit lasting 30 minutes. While somewhat restricted based on enrollment we will aim to recruit individuals with the following self-reported ancestry: African/African American (n=30), Latin American/Hispanic (n=20), East/Southeast Asian (n=8), South Asian (n=14), European/White (n=8), Middle Eastern (n=10), and Other (n=13) populations.

IRB No. 26-193-1 (Dr. Robert Mcloughlin, PI): Frailty in Surgical Patients

Frailty is defined as ";a clinically identifiable state of diminished physiologic reserve and increased vulnerability to a broad range of adverse health outcomes.";1 Frailty has been associated with poor outcomes, morbidity, and mortality in surgical patients.2-7 A quality improvement project implemented by the surgical residents identified that surgeons accurately identified their surgical patients as frail approximately 50% of the time when frailty was assessed by grip strength. Surgeons'; subjective assessment of frailty has been previously reported as having a poor associated with objective frailty. For example, 82% of frail geriatric thoracic surgery patients had degrees of frailty that were undetected by nongeriatric teams.8 In addition, surgeon';s subjective assessment of frailty is biased; older age, female sex, and non-Caucasian race were associated with higher subjective frailty scores.9 There are several tools that have been validated to measure frailty including the Risk Analysis Index (RAI), the Tilburg test, and grip strength. The Risk Analysis Index (RAI) is a validated, 14-item frailty screening tool designed to objectively quantify a patient';s physiologic reserve by assessing specific deficits across domains such as age, sex, malignancy status, comorbidities (e.g., renal failure, congestive heart failure), functional status, and cognition.10 The Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) is a questionnaire designed to screen for frailty in community-dwelling older adults, adopting an integrated, multidimensional approach rather than focusing solely on physical phenotype.11 Grip strength acts as a rapid, non-invasive biomarker for overall physiologic reserve and is a central component of the physical frailty phenotype.12 It serves as a quantifiable proxy for sarcopenia and neuromuscular integrity.13 Frailty assessments have been implemented to predict postoperative outcomes. In addition, surgeons have proposed prehabilitation prior to elective surgery in order to reduce postoperative morbidity. There are currently multiple ongoing multicenter randomized control trials evaluation the effects of prehabilitation (including physical strengthening, respiratory training, nutritional support, and therapy and psychosocial treatment) of frail patients prior to scheduled surgery.14-16 To date, there are no conclusions about the effects of prehabilitation on postoperative outcomes. The aim of this study is to assess frailty in surgical patients before and after surgery in order to compare the objective frailty assessment with the surgeon';s perceived patient frailty as well as compare postoperative complications. We hypothesize that surgeons cannot accurately assess frailty in patients and that frail patients have more postoperative complications compared to their robust counterparts. Future directions will aim to develop of a multimodal prehabilitation program at UConn Health Center in order to improve postoperative outcomes in frail patients.