Healthy Clinical Trials

The objective of this study is collect urine samples from healthy adult subjects and subjects with stable chronic morbidities for future testing to serve as controls and establish reference ranges in the development of new invitro diagnostic devices. Read Less

The goal of this exploratory study is understand the mechanisms of response to immunotherapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer patients. The investigators are going to search for correlation between specific biological features and response to immunotherapy, and to use those associations for developing an algorithm enabling to identify patients that could benefit from the immune check inhibitor based anti cancer treatment. Patients will provide biological samples before and during their treatment, and clinical data will be collected. Read Less

Inflammation occurs in many brain diseases including Alzheimer's disease. In Alzheimer's disease, amyloid starts accumulating decades before the start of forgetfulness. Basic scientists have reported that inflammation but not amyloid is linked to forgetfulness. When people pinch a finger, it gets swollen. Similar changes occur in brain from various causes. New medications are under development to help healing and prevent permanent damages in the brain. When people pinch a finger, they can check if the injury is healing or getting worse by watching. Investigators can watch inside of the brain using a special camera called positron emission tomography (PET). It is currently possible to watch inflammation in the brain by taking pictures of a molecule called translocator protein (TSPO). But the problem is that by imaging TSPO, investigators can catch changes in more than one kind of cells. The information is not specific to each cell type. Such vague information is not useful to monitor the effect of new medications for inflammation. This proposal attempts to develop a novel method to capture changes in each of two major players in inflammation, microglia and astrocytes. To do so, investigators will take selective pictures of one cell type by using a novel imaging agent for PET. Investigators will also take PET pictures of TSPO. Investigators will process these two kinds of PET pictures using advanced mathematical methods and extract specific information on microglia and astrocytes. Our novel method will be useful to monitor new therapies to treat inflammation in brain. Read Less

In this study, we investigate the impact of insulin resistance on the acceleration of brain aging, and test whether increased neuron insulin resistance can be counteracted by utilization of alternate metabolic pathways (e.g., ketones rather than glucose). This study has three Arms, which together provide synergistic data. For all three Arms, subjects are tested in a within-subjects design that consists of 2-3 testing sessions, 1-14 days apart, and counter-balanced for order. During each session we measure the impact of fuel (glucose in one session, ketones in the other) on brain metabolism and associated functioning. For Arms 1-2, our primary experimental measure is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which we will use to trace the self-organization of functional networks following changes in energy supply and demand. Arm 1 tests the impact of endogenous ketones produced by switching to a low carbohydrate diet, while Arm 2 tests the impact of exogenous ketones consumed as a nutritional supplement. For Arm 3, we use simultaneous magnetic resonance spectroscopy/positron-emission tomography (MR/PET) to quantify the impact of exogenous ketones on production of glutamate and GABA, key neurotransmitters. Subjects will be given the option to participate in more than one of the Arms, but doing so is not expected nor required. Prior to scans, subjects will receive a clinician-administered History and Physical (H&P), which includes vital signs, an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), and the comprehensive metabolic blood panel. These will be used to assess diabetes, kidney disease, and electrolytes. If subjects pass screening, they will be provided the option to participate in one or more Arms, which include neuroimaging. To provide a quantitative measure of time-varying metabolic activity throughout the scan, based upon quantitative models of glucose and ketone regulation, as well as to be able to implement safety stopping rules (see below), we will obtain pin-prick blood samples three times: prior to the scan, following consumption of the glucose or ketone drink, and following completion of the scan. To assess effects of increased metabolic demand, we measure brain response to cognitive load, transitioning from resting-state to spatial reasoning through a Tetris task. To assess effects of increased metabolic supply, we measure brain response to glucose or ketone bolus. Read Less

iSpecimen aims to create a clinical partner network of hospitals, laboratories, academic institutions, and other healthcare organizations ("institutions") capable of providing researchers and educators ("researchers") with annotated biospecimens for use in biomarker discovery and validation; diagnostic test and instrumentation development and validation; therapeutics development; other medical research including the impact that various specimen collection and handling methods and conditions have on research results; and in education such as researcher or physician training (collectively "research"). Read Less

The goal of this prospective, observational study is to compare the quality and quantity of the cellular content of platelet-rich plasma harvested after administering one of two cell-stimulating proteins, filgrastim and pegfilgrastim. The main question it aims to answer is: • Will participants have a similar cellular content when comparing a 4-day filgrastim treatment to a one-day pegfilgrastim treatment? Participants will have the following intervention administered: 130mL of blood will be drawn on the first visit after consent and in followup visits after administering treatment (4 days for filgrastim, 7 days for pegfilgrastim) Half of all participants will receive filgrastim first, followed by pegfilgrastim 8 weeks after filgrastim treatment concludes. The other half will receive the treatments in reverse order Researchers will compare the quality and quantity of cell content after each treatment administration as well as comparing differences in data dependent on which order treatment was given. Read Less

The goal of this observational study is to observe stored stem cells and determine their capability to grow based on several factors. The main two factors focused on in this study are as follows: Time stem cells have spent in cryopreservation Demographic factors (gender, race, age) Read Less

This is an observational study exploring the performance of a novel point-of-care diagnostic testing platform designed to quantitate the presence of liver function biomarkers such as bilirubin. Blood samples will be collected from participants to further development and validation of the testing platform to support FDA review. The diagnostic device is intended to provide rapid in-office test results using a finger stick of blood, a reaction test device, and a smartphone app. Read Less

The investigators will be studying the sedative drug dexmedetomidine using hybrid PET/fMRI/EEG imaging to better understand the neuropharmacology of anesthesia/artificially induced sleep. Read Less

Light is the primary means by which the internal circadian clock remains aligned ("entrained") with the external world. Misalignment of this internal clock can occur during situations such as shift work and jet travel across multiple time zones (jet lag). The purpose of this study is to examine how sequences of brief flashes of light can affect entrainment of the clock. Read Less

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a serious condition characterized by a mean pulmonary artery pressure >=25mmHg on right heart catheterization (RHC). Despite advances in PH care, outcomes are still sub-optimal and further research is required into the pathobiology of the disease and development of biomarkers that can guide clinical care. The investigators are establishing a biobank to collect samples (blood, urine, stool) from patients with pulmonary hypertension, patients at high risk for pulmonary hypertension, healthy controls, and patients undergoing right heart catheterization. Specimens will be stored for future investigations. Read Less

The main goal of this research is to determine the role of several brain regions in memory processes and cognitive functions. Participants will be remotely supervised via video chat while self-administering tDCS, a form of non-invasive brain stimulation. Before participating in the experiment, participants will be properly trained on use of the remote tDCS device and screened for eligibility. While using the tDCS device, participants will be engaging in tasks that assess different aspects of memory and executive functioning. By using remotely supervised tDCS while participants are completing these cognitive tasks, we will be able to make causal claims about the role of the targeted brain regions in different cognitive processes. Read Less