The Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases (KUH) of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) supports a consortium of Cooperative Centers of Excellence in Hematology (CCEH) that was established to provide resources to the nonmalignant hematology research community. Each current center is composed of two to three biomedical research core facilities providing state-of-the-art cellular and molecular biology tools or reagents and expertise. The consortium accomplishes its mission primarily by sharing resources of the five CCEH centers and cultivating collaborations across disciplines through virtual seminars, virtual consults, short-term enrichment programs for visiting scholars, and the national pilot and feasibility (P&F) program.

This longstanding NIDDK-supported hematology consortium has always been a collaborative venture. It was created to help achieve the NIDDK director’s ongoing vision of maintaining a vigorous investigator-initiated research portfolio, preserving a stable pool of talented new investigators, fostering exceptional research training and mentoring opportunities, and ensuring knowledge dissemination through outreach and communications. More information is available on the NIDDK website (www.niddk.nih.gov/about-niddk/meet-director). In this latest iteration (CCEH), the consortium has added a Hematology Central Coordinating Center (HCCC) that administers the national P&F awards supporting small projects aimed at generating preliminary data for larger grant applications, short-term enrichment programs with visiting scholars, instructional presentations, and a national nonmalignant hematology seminar series.

This P&F program is intended to support small, innovative pilot projects that are not appropriate for other grant mechanisms (e.g., because of scope, feasibility, or citizenship of applicant), preparing the applicant for future National Institutes of Health funding and independence. The program prioritizes projects that include plans for new collaborations, not only the use of CCEH core facilities, and that also bring new applicants or perspectives from other fields or develop novel tools to address questions in nonmalignant hematology. Preliminary data are not necessary, but the hypothesis should be supported by literature. Applicants may also apply for travel funding to train at a CCEH core facility that will be used in the proposal. (Visit cceh.io/funding for more information.)

The overarching goal of each center’s enrichment program is to enhance scientific knowledge exchange among investigators currently involved in (or wishing to become involved in) NIDDK hematology research–relevant areas.

Programs initiated by each center seek to facilitate and enhance idea exchange between hematology and non-hematology researchers, internal and external investigators, trainees and established researchers, and researchers and clinicians. Enrichment programs facilitate academic discussions/debates, interactive technique-sharing symposia, research-in-progress presentations, and visiting scholar/trainee exchange programs.

The HCCC also coordinates several national seminars highlighting works-in-progress, novel core facilities, or recent CCEH-funded successes. For schedules and more information, please refer to cceh.io/services/cceh-enrichment-resources.

Supported areas include gene structure and function; cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the production, maturation, and function of blood cells; and development of strategies to treat nonmalignant hematologic diseases. The current consortium consists of 14 core facilities that provide:

  • CD34 purified primary human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor mobilized and nonmobilized apheresis collections

  • Xenotransplantation and in vivo genome editing services (including highly engineered humanized mouse models and large animal models such as dogs)

  • Genome editing procedures, lentiviral vector, and CRISPR/Cas-9 gRNA library production

  • High-resolution microscopy (with cytoskeletal and hematopathology expertise)

  • Time-lapse, intravital microscopy, and 3D tissue microscopy

  • Flow cytometry assays

  • Hypoxia core for phenotypic and functional characterization of hematopoietic stem cells

  • Single-cell multiomics and cell procurement

  • Heme and porphyrin quantitative assays

  • Metabolomic profiles on large and small numbers of cells including ion flux and lipidomics, and protein-protein and protein-metabolite interactions

  • Human induced pluripotent stem cell generation including good manufacturing practices facilities

  • Assistance with hematopoiesis culture assays (e.g., murine bone marrow collection, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, colony-forming units)

The charge for each service is available by contacting the center directly; alternatively, there are core credit (Type A) awards under P&F grants where a core facility can be used for free (cceh.io/funding). Additionally, each core facility hosts office hours as well as virtual consults to help investigators determine which technology may be the best for their experiment in their area of research.

For more information, access the consortium website at cceh.io/services.

Dr. Hattangadi indicated no relevant conflicts of interest.

2022