Oklahoma Center of ImmunoEngineering (OCIE) - Project Summary / Abstract – Overall Component This NIH Phase I COBRE program aims to establish the Oklahoma Center of ImmunoEngineering (OCIE). OCIE will facilitate the convergence of immunomodulation and omics data science research, support the career development of Research Project Leaders (RPLs) and other immunoengineering researchers, and accelerate their research on cancer, viral infection, diabetes, and other diseases with immunological roots. Immunoengineering has emerged as a promising field because of its ability to analyze and modulate the immune system using engineering approaches. Omics research enables systematic characterizations and treatments of diseases by analyzing enormous amounts of data generated by immunoengineering studies. Recent advances in data science provide new approaches and methodologies for machine learning, parallel computing, network analysis, and data visualization to effectively analyze omics data and create novel computational models for immunoengineering research. While immunoengineering is a fast-growing field in Oklahoma, the resources, infrastructure, and researchers for both immunoengineering data generation and omics data analysis are geographically scattered and poorly coordinated. To address these challenges, OCIE will establish a sustainable immunoengineering research network to provide enhanced infrastructure, resources, new immunoengineering technologies, training, end-to-end services, mentoring, and collaboration. To achieve this goal, OCIE proposes the following Specific Aims: 1) Establishing an Immunoengineering Research Infrastructure. OCIE will establish two Research Cores: The Immunomodulation Technology Core (IMTC) and the Omics Data Science Core (ODSC). These cores will provide facilities, instrumentation, omics analytical tools, training, and new immunoengineering technologies needed to advance the research endeavors of the RPLs and other researchers. These resources will offer end-to-end service from initial experimental planning to multi-omics data acquisition and analysis, and from publication to grant submission. New immunomodulation methods and omics tools will be developed in OCIE to help RPLs and other researchers explore novel ideas, new materials, and advanced methods in immunoengineering research; 2) Mentoring Research Project Leaders in Immunoengineering Research. OCIE selected 4 RPLs, each paired with 2 experienced, well-funded mentors from the University of Oklahoma, Norman, and partner institutions. The mentors, alongside OCIE personnel, will guide the RPLs in experimental design and execution, data collection and analysis, manuscript preparation, and grant submission, ensuring that they graduate as independent researchers with significant federal funding; and 3) Fostering an Immunoengineering Research Network. Through its Administrative Core, OCIE will offer monthly seminars, research roundtables, training workshops, and an annual symposium. It will fund pilot and Team-Science projects to connect basic, translational, and clinical researchers to foster bench-top to bedside and bedside to bench-top (a “reverse-engineering approach”) collaborations in Oklahoma and other IDeA states.
