Coordinated by Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS), the New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJ ACTS) comprises a consortium with Rutgers and Princeton Universities (PU), NJ Institute for Technology (NJIT), medical, nursing, dental and public health schools, hospitals, community health centers, outpatient practices, industry, policymakers and health information exchanges. All Alliance universities and affiliates have provided substantial resources and contributed to the planning, development and leadership of the consortium. With access to ~7 million people, NJ ACTS serves as a ‘natural laboratory’ for translational and clinical research. With a state population of ~9 million, New Jersey ranks 11th in the US, 1st in population density and higher than average in racial and ethnic diversity. Surprisingly, NJ has no CTSA Hub to coordinate translational and clinical research. Our CTSA Hub focuses on two overarching themes: the heterogeneity of disease pathogenesis and response to treatment, and the value of linking large clinical databases with interventional clinical investigations to identify cause-and-effect and predict therapeutic responses. NJ ACTS will provide: innovative approaches to link information from large databases and electronic health records to inform clinical trial design, execution and analysis; and novel platforms for biomarker discovery using fluorescence in situ hybridization and machine learning to identify unique neural signatures of chronic illness. NJ ACTS will access a large health system with significant member diversity; a rich legacy of community engagement and community-based research platforms; and proven approaches to enhance workforce development in clinical research. With a substantial investment in streamlining research administration and IRB practices at Rutgers and with the inception of NJ ACTS, there exists an unparalleled opportunity for logarithmic growth in clinical research in New Jersey. To build our capacity for participant and clinical interactions as a CTSA Hub, the newly established Trial Accelerator and Recruitment Office will coordinate feasibility assessment, implementation, recruitment, and evaluation of clinical studies. Additionally, our organization of five clinical research units into a cohesive network provides extraordinary expertise in strategic locations to enhance participant recruitment from diverse communities with a particular focus on: children; the elderly; those with serious mental illness or substance abuse issues; low-income individuals served by Medicaid; those with HIV/AIDS; and people of all ages who are minorities, underserved, and victims of health and environmental disparities. With a history of collaboration, partners and affiliates share unique skills, expertise, training and mentoring capabilities that will be greatly amplified within the infrastructure of a CTSA Hub. Princeton and NJIT, without medical schools or hospital affiliates, seeks collaboration with Rutgers to provide clinical research platforms; Rutgers seeks the PU and NJIT expertise in novel informatics platforms, expertise in natural language and ontology, machine learning and cognitive neurosciences. Together NJ ACTS will provide an alliance that will catalyze clinical research and training across New Jersey to improve population health and contribute to the CTSA Consortium. In this revised application, the overall themes remain unchanged but Cores leadership and direction has been markedly refined.

Project Narrative The New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJ ACTS), as a member of the CTSA Consortium, unites Rutgers University, Princeton University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, clinical, community and industry partners in a shared vision to make New Jersey a healthier state. Building on New Jersey’s already significant capabilities to promote and facilitate clinical and translational research, NJ ACTS will serve as a catalyst, inspiring new approaches to diagnose and manage disease, and fostering career development of the next generation of translational researchers, and promoting population health.