Investigator Resources
The centralized shared research resources at the Children’s Mercy Research Institute (CMRI) provide access to instruments, technologies, services, as well as expert consultation and other services to scientific and clinical investigators. The laboratory-based resources at the CMRI ensure that investigators and their teams can take their basic and translational research efforts to the next level to solve the toughest pediatric health questions.
The Biostatistics and Epidemiology Core (BEC) conducts original research, provides statistics education and research mentoring, and serves the scientific community locally, nationally, and internationally. With four PhD research faculty and two master’s-level biostatisticians, the BEC leads investigators in their own lines of research and collaborates with investigators at Children’s Mercy and around the world. The BEC faculty has expertise include Bayesian statistics, bootstrap methods, epidemiology, latent variable analysis, machine learning, methods for longitudinal and clustered data and statistical genomics.
Please click here to learn more about the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Core.
The Children’s Mercy Bioethics Center (CMBC) was created in 2009 as only the second children’s hospital-based bioethics center in the country. With a staff that includes physicians, nurses, philosophers and health administrators, the CMBC addresses ethical issues that arise in clinical pediatrics, pediatric research, and child health policy. Since launching the world’s first postdoctoral Certificate Training Program in Pediatric Bioethics in 2010, the Center has trained more than 300 child health professionals from over 35 countries. CMBC faculty collaboratively have published hundreds of peer-reviewed papers and 10 books, and work with clinicians and researchers to develop research projects and products of academic endeavor.
The Children’s Mercy Research Institute Biorepository (CRIB) is a biological specimen repository that collects, processes, stores and distributes biospecimens that support scientific investigation.
This state-of-the-art facility features a unique barcoding system for monitoring sample management, tracking freezer inventory and electronically attaching pertinent clinical and research data to each specimen.
Featured resources within the CRIB include:
- Nucleic acid extraction (using both manual and robotic magnetic bead procedures)
- Blood component separations
- Live cell preservation
- Flash freezing
- Consultation services
- Specimen preservation assistance
- Study design services
The Perinatal Research Biorepository (PRB) collects and provides human biospecimens and related clinical data to enhance translational perinatal research. The PRB’s goal is to improve the quality of pregnancy through biomedical research and positively impact maternal, fetal and postnatal health. The PRB collects biological samples and related clinical data associated with human pregnancy (maternal blood, cord blood, umbilical cords, placental tissues, amniotic fluid, chorionic villous specimens, etc.) according to best practices from Children’s Mercy Fetal Health Center, the University of Kansas Medical Center, University Health and St. Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City.
Interested researchers can submit applications to access deidentified biospecimens and related clinical data by direct email to PRBiorepository@cmh.edu. The PRB manager and scientific oversight committee will review applications and respond to all inquiries in the order they are received.
CMRI cytometry equipment is capable of analyzing up to 15 different markers per sample and include:
- Flow cytometry analyzer: LSR Fortessa X-20 with 4 lasers and 15 detectors equipped with a High Throughput Sampler (BD Biosciences)
- Flow cytometry sorter: FACSAria Fusion with 4 lasers and 15 detectors (BD Biosciences)
The Genome Core Service Center (GCSC) provides next generation sequencing and analytic services to investigators, including:
- Sequence alignment and variant detection for whole genome (WGS) and whole exome (WES)
- Transcriptome analyses by RNA sequencing bulk samples (RNA-seq.) or single cells (sc-RNA-seq.)
- Epigenome analyses for methylation (whole genome bisulphite-seq., WGBS), Chromatin in tissues (ATAC-seq.) or single cells (sc-ATAC-seq.)
DNA variants and functional alterations are characterized bioinformatically using powerful sequence processing pipelines together with the latest analytical tools, including data solutions that have been developed in-house.
If you are a current employee, please click here to learn more about the GCSC on The Scope.
The Children’s Mercy Research Institute’s analytical chemistry resources currently are in transition to approximately 1,940 square feet of new space in the CMRI Research Building. When fully operational the resource will include eight mass spectrometer systems:
- An ultra-high resolution Thermo Orbitrap Exploris 480 mass spectrometer coupled to an Easy-nLC 1200 system for nanoflow chromatography for proteomic applications
- A high-resolution Waters Xevo G2-XS QToF mass spectrometer equipped with an IonKey source
- Four Waters Xevo TQ-XS triple quadrupole systems with Acquity UPLC systems
- A Waters Xevo TQ-S triple quadrupole/ Acquity UPLC system
- A Waters Xevo TQD triple quadrupole / Acquity UPLC system
Additional analytical platforms include three Agilent HPLC systems with optional detectors including fluorescence, UV/vis, diode array detector, and two POC-One infrared spectrometers for analyzing [13C]O2 breath test samples. Two Opentrons liquid handling systems are available for programable pipetting of sample processing steps.
Pediatric Clinical Research Unit (PCRU) is a six-bed inpatient facility designed for the conduct of high-quality pediatric clinical research led by investigators from all departments at Children’s Mercy. The self-contained clinical research nursing unit has accommodations for both inpatient and outpatient studies and provides safe and protocol-compliant specialized clinical care to subjects participating in an Institutional Review Board-approved clinical investigation. This unit meets all applicable FDA/ICH guidelines for a phase I study unit and fully meets accreditation standards by the Joint Commission (JCAHO).
If you are a current employee, please click here to learn more about the PCRU on The Scope.
- Microscopy