Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Investigation

Recent public debates about conflicts of interests, exploitation of human subjects and scientific fraud have brought to the forefront the importance of ethical reflection in the context of biomedical investigations. This course examines various ethical aspects that arise when conducting biomedical research. In order to evaluate such ethical concerns this course will review and critically analyze the philosophical underpinnings of current guidelines and regulations for the responsible conduct of research. Different aspects of doing research where moral decision-making is necessary will be considered, as well as discussion of investigators’ responsibilities as members of the scientific community and gatekeepers of public trust in science.

The focus of this workshop is on web-based bioinformatics tools. At the end of the course, trainees will be expected to have a solid foundation in using fundamental tools of bioinformatics and how they apply to clinical and translational investigation.

This course will provide an overview of how to design, conduct and analyze clinical trials. Completion of this course will lead to an understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of clinical trials related to the strengths and limitations of randomized clinical trials; theoretical and practical aspects of randomization, stratification, and blinding; challenges of designing and implementing single-center and multi-center clinical trials; major issues in the analysis of clinical trials; role of clinical trials in the drug development process; and investigators’ roles and responsibilities in conducting clinical trials.

This course is designed to introduce interdisciplinary researchers to the principles and practices of community-based scientific research in health research, gerontology and geriatrics. The course consists of a series of expert presentations from researchers and practitioners involved in community-based research projects intended to benefit the elderly in New York City. Individual seminar topics will range from theoretical presentations of different models of community-based and other types of translational research models (e.g., CBPR, action research and related methods that engage community participation), methodological education, ethical issues in community-based research, specific community research projects, and funding and publication issues. A primary emphasis is on exposure to interdisciplinary activities, diverse perspectives, and values provided by researcher and community-practice presenters.

This course is designed to familiarize individuals with computer technologies and procedures essential in current clinical research, and will cover practical topics such as creating research databases, safeguarding patient confidentiality, regulatory issues, data and file system security, data transfer over networks and backup systems. In addition, it will cover basic concepts in medical informatics essential for data sharing, including principles of database design, medical vocabularies, data standards, data warehousing and Internet technologies.

This advanced course will provide in-depth exposure to techniques used by health economists and other health services researchers to conduct economic evaluations of health care technologies and programs. Participants will learn how to critique economic evaluations using cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit approaches, and will be introduced to tools they can use to apply these techniques to their own research projects.

The goal of this course is to provide an overview of the methodological foundations for research involving human subjects, while gaining an understanding of core epidemiological concepts, theory and applications of commonly used biostatistical methods, and investigative methods of clinical interventions.

This course is designed to train students to conduct epidemiologic research of the highest quality. Through a combination of video-conferencing, live lectures and in-class question/answer discussion sessions, students will learn how to evaluate research conducted by others and how to apply epidemiologic principles to health-related specialties, including clinical medicine and health services. The course will provide students with an introduction to basic and intermediate epidemiologic methods to build the foundation for further work in epidemiology, either as practicing epidemiologists or as sophisticated users of epidemiologic information.

This course is offered to students desiring a background in functional neuroimaging. The goal of the course is to have students achieve a functional command of specific to cognitive neuropsychiatric imaging (MRI, fMRI and EEG), and a working knowledge of other imaging modalities. The course will consist of a comprehensive set of topics, in a series of one to two hour lecture/discussion sessions with laboratory demonstrations as appropriate.

This course will focus on strengthening scientific writing skills. Students will develop and write a formal research proposal in an area of personal interest, write an article for a scientific journal, critically evaluate the merits of specific approaches to scientific problems and compose formal critiques, and develop an article that effectively presents scientific work to the general public.

This two-part series will provide a fundamental understanding of immunology-focused research. This course will give a comprehensive overview of basic immunology, beginning with innate immune responses and followed by a study of the main aspects of acquired immunity. Important topics will include: specific interactions of target cells and T cells that are regulated by the MHC molecule and peptide antigens on the target cell and the antigen specific T cell receptor, generation and molecular structure of B and T cell antigen receptors, signaling through immune receptors, the development of antigen specific T and B cells, and specific roles of some cytokines/lymphokines.

This course is an introduction to the fundamental statistical issues in designing clinical research studies. Its primary emphasis is on understanding the design and analytic methods of clinical research from a statistical perspective. Lectures and discussions will focus on the following: exploratory data analysis, basic concepts of statistical analysis, construction of hypothesis tests and confidence intervals, the development of statistical methods for analyzing data, development of mathematical models used to relate a response variable to explanatory or descriptive variables, and an introduction to statistical analysis of microarray and genomic studies.

This course will focus on experimental strategies used by biomedical scientists to understand both normal and pathophysiological processes. Lecture topics will cover biochemical, cellular, molecular, immunological, genetic and bioinformatics approaches. The goal of the course is to equip students with fundamental knowledge needed to develop independent patient and translational research proposals, and to critically evaluate the work of others.

This course is designed to give students an overview of microarray technologies and their applications in the biomedical field, leading to design and analysis of microarray experiments. The course will cover the latest techniques and theories, and is organized around a combination of lecture and practical sessions.

The aim of this course, composed of both lectures and workshops, is to introduce the following: basic concepts and principles of molecular biology and molecular genetics, basic technology of molecular biology in translational research, and contemporary concepts and technology of molecular genetics and molecular biology, as related to clinical research and clinical medicine. Topics will include the human genome, gene structure, gene expression, gene mutations, gene interference, gene cloning, gene therapy and animal models of human diseases. Both basic and contemporary technologies will be covered, including DNA, RNA and protein isolation, DNA amplification, mutation detection, mRNA and protein determination, microarray, proteomics and database searching.

This course will educate students about the processes involved in drug and medical device development and commercialization. Upon completion of the course, students will be better equipped to compete and collaborate with big pharmaceutical companies. The course will include presentations on drug development, the FDA, patent law, clinical trials, pricing policy, drug sales, financial analysis and related topics. It will also include presentations on specific biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including an analysis of present and future performance. Students will be expected to actively participate in 15 meetings over a two-year period (there are 10 meetings each year), follow a single company for a year, and formally present a company and evaluate its prospects.

This course will provide an analysis of research, programs and services related to the interaction between nutrition and aging, with emphasis on the role of nutrition in comprehensive geriatric care. Course objectives include understanding fundamental demographic, psychosocial, physiologic and behavior issues in geriatric nutrition, and describing current policies and programs and different health care settings relevant to older adult nutrition.

This course is designed to present basic principles for understanding the rationale behind development of drug therapy with consideration of the factors involved in individual variability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenomics. Topics will include: dose-response, drug efficacy and potency, drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, drug addiction, drug use in pregnancy, chemotherapy and the principles behind drug-to-drug interactions.

This course will provide trainees with an overview of statistical methods and issues related to the design and analysis of observational studies. Course objectives are as follows: understand the value of observational study and the background for causal inference, design and write an analysis plan for an observational study, analyze data (using Stata software) with multiple regression analysis to adjust for confounders, review the literature related to large databases to motivate how future studies can be planned, and introduce the concept of meta-analysis for observational studies and their reporting standards.

This course will provide an overview of survey research methods for health-related research with patients or other population groups. The course goals are to provide students with an understanding of survey research through hands-on experience designing a survey research project in an area of interest. This will include reviewing the relevant literature, generating hypothesis and making decisions about measurement, survey design, sampling, recruitment, data collection methods and statistical analysis.

The objectives of this course are to: heighten students' awareness of ethical considerations relevant to the conduct of research; inform students of federal, state, and institutional policies, regulations, and procedures; and provide students with critical analysis and problem solving skills for ethical decision-making.

In this two-week, online course developed by e-Cornell, participants will explore the dimensions and inherent benefits of a well-organized, synchronized team and how to develop a systematic and concrete approach to organizing individuals into a highly effective, productive and cohesive work force.