Administrative Core

Abstract Administrative Core The WUPCEN Administrative Core will play an important role in the infrastructure of this P50 WUPCEN, directly contributing to its management and accomplishments and ensuring that the overall missions are met. This is particularly important as it allows close interaction, data sharing, and planning between the project

leaders/labs/educational activities with one another as well aiding transmittal of data from the Biomedical Cores. The Administrative Core will serve as the primary managerial component for all activities of the Research Center. It will be responsible for the management of resources within the Research Center and

outreach to the wider pediatric nephrology research community. The goals of this Administrative Core are to develop and maintain the relevant goals of the Research Center; coordinate, manage and integrate the Research Center’s components and activities, which includes coordinating ongoing research between the

Research Project(s) and the Biomedical Core(s). The Administrative Core will work collaboratively and productively with the other PCENs on joint efforts including the annual scientific meeting and a collaborative approach to optimize the use of Opportunity Pool funds for Pilot and Feasibility awards through the Opportunity

Pool and the use of JIT awards from the WUPCEN Biomedical Core. Our Educational Enrichment program is designed to attract and engage individuals at all levels towards pediatric kidney disease research. The Educational Enrichment Program has three main goals: Promote early career engagement, train investigators

in new techniques and foster innovative collaborations. We have three main instruments for early career engagement: Summer research experiences, student recruitment programs, and a seminar series. The Educational Enrichment Program will be directed/governed by Dr. Jain and Dr. Dharnidharka together.

To sustain the field of pediatric nephrology research, it is essential to have seed funding for potentially high impact pilot projects and to be able to offer such opportunities to young investigators, or those researchers moving in new directions. The latter may be either established investigators in nephrology who propose testing

innovative ideas that represent a clear departure from ongoing research interests; or established investigators with no previous work in kidney research who wish to apply their expertise to a problem in this area. As part of the Washington University Pediatric Center of Excellence in Nephrology (WUPCEN), as required in the RFA,

we will develop a cohesive Pilot and Feasibility Program (P&FP) to develop new research directions or provide an opportunity for new investigators or established investigators to enter the field of kidney research. Each pilot and feasibility project will provide modest support that will allow an investigator the opportunity to develop

sufficient preliminary data as a basis for an application for independent research support.