A satellite General Clinical Research Center (GGRC) of the USC GCRC was established at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) on July 1, 1995. The focus of the Satellite GCRC is the multi-disciplinary evaluation of new technologies for the treatment of infants and children. Diseases that occur in children can differ significantly from those that occur in adults. The treatment of diseases in children is compounded by the fact that, due to the developing nature of their organ systems, both diseases and their therapies have greater potential toxicities especially to the central nervous system, than do analogous diseases and therapies in adults. Thus the CHLA GCRC supports protocols dealing with 1) genetic diseases, 2) the effects of diseases and their treatment on the developing nervous system, 3) the introduction of new technology into pediatric care, and 4) the long term evaluation of patients receiving treatment with new technologies.

Services Offered:

Biostatistical support

Ms. Colleen Azen is the Biostatistician for both the USC and Satellite GCRC. Her services are availble to help investigators with study design and to provide guidance in the use ofappropriate statistical applications.

CDMAS

An important part of clinical research is the preparation, analysis and presentation of data. Various analysis software packages as well as two computer workstations are available to GCRC investigators. In conjunction with the statistical software, the CDMAS can develop customized data entry screens to enter data outlined in a research protocol. A partial list of available software includes:

		BMDP
		SAS
		SPSS
		Systat
		SigmaStat; SigmaPlot
		Hi Jaak Graphics
		Photo Finish
		Q+E
		Lotus Freelance
		Excel

Gene Therapy/Bone Marrow Transplantation Core Laboratory Can support both USC and CHLA clinical gene therapy trials. Services:

   1. Transduction of CD34+ cells used in some gene therapy protocols
   2. The growth of murine fibrolasts transducted with the herpes simplex 
      thymidine kinase gene for a brain tumor protocol.
   3. The growth of gamma interferon transduced neurobiastoma cells.
   4. The isolation of CD34+ bone marrow cells.
   5. Growth of Iyrnphoid and hematopoietic colonies from peripheral blood 
      and tone marrow specimens.
   6. Performs PCR analysis of in vitro colonies and patient specimens.

Neuropsychology Services:

A pediatric neuropsychologist is available to GCRC investigators to help design the neuropsychological components of their study and to delineate the appropriate evaluation measures for their study population. The Neuropsychologist will also perform age-appropriate neuropsychological assessments of study subjects and provide written reports of these evaluations to investigators, parents and schools.

Nursing Services:

The Satellite GCRC offers around the year, 24 hour nursing services for on-site inpatient and outpatient studies.