The Project Baseline Health Study: a step towards a broader mission to map human health.

The Project Baseline Health Study (PBHS) was launched to map human health through a comprehensive understanding of both the health of an individual and how it relates to the broader population. The study will contribute to the creation of a biomedical information system that accounts for the highly complex interplay of biological, behavioral, environmental, and social systems. The PBHS is a prospective, multicenter, longitudinal cohort study that aims to enroll thousands of participants with diverse backgrounds who are representative of the entire health spectrum. Enrolled participants will be evaluated serially using clinical, molecular, imaging, sensor, self-reported, behavioral, psychological, environmental, and other health-related measurements. An initial deeply phenotyped cohort will inform the development of a large, expanded virtual cohort. The PBHS will contribute to precision health and medicine by integrating state of the art testing, longitudinal monitoring and participant engagement, and by contributing to the development of an improved platform for data sharing and analysis.

The Measurement to Understand Reclassification of Disease of Cabarrus/Kannapolis (MURDOCK) Study Community Registry and Biorepository.

Current understanding of chronic diseases is based on crude clinical characterization, imaging studies, and laboratory testing that has evolved over decades. The Measurement to Understand Reclassification of Disease of Cabarrus/Kannapolis (MURDOCK) Study is a multi-tiered, longitudinal study designed to enable classification of chronic diseases using clinically annotated biospecimen collections, -omic technologies, electronic health records, and standard epidemiological methods. We expect that detailed molecular classification will improve mechanistic understanding of chronic diseases, augmenting discovery and testing of new treatments, and allowing refined selection of prevention and treatment strategies. The MURDOCK Study Community Registry and Biorepository will serve as a bridge for validation of initial exploratory studies, a platform for future prospective studies in targeted populations, and a resource of both data (analytical and clinical) and samples for cross-registry meta-analyses and comparative population studies. Participation of local health care providers and the Cabarrus County/Kannapolis, NC, community will facilitate future medical research and provide the opportunity to educate and inform the public about genomic research, actively engaging them in shaping the future of medical discovery and treatment of chronic diseases. We present the rationale and study design for the MURDOCK Community Registry and Biorepository and baseline characteristics of the first 6000 participants.

The MURDOCK Study: a long-term initiative for disease reclassification through advanced biomarker discovery and integration with electronic health records.

BACKGROUND: Facing critically low return per dollar invested on clinical research and clinical care, the American biomedical enterprise is in need of a significant transformation. A confluence of high-throughput "omic" technologies and increasing adoption of the electronic health record has fueled excitement for a new paradigm for biomedical research and practice. The ability to simultaneously measure thousands of molecular variables and assess their relationships with clinical data collected during the course of care could enable reclassification of disease not only by gross phenotypic observation but according to underlying molecular mechanism and influence of social determinants.In turn, this reclassification could enable development of targeted therapeutic interventions as well as disease prevention strategies at the individual and population levels. METHODS/DESIGN: The MURDOCK Study consists of distinct project "horizons" or stages. Horizon 1 entailed the generation and analysis of molecular data for existing large,clinically well-annotated cohorts in four disease areas. Horizon 1.5 involves creating and maintaining a 50,000-person,community volunteer registry for biomarker signature validation and prospective studies, including integration of environmental and social data. Horizon 2 leverages and prospectively recruits Horizon 1.5 volunteers, and extends the study to additional disease areas of interest. Horizon 3 will expand the study through regional, national,and international partnerships. DISCUSSION: The MURDOCK Study embodies a new model of team science investigation and represents a significant resource for translational research. The study team invites inquiries to form new collaborations to exploit the rich resources provided by these biospecimens and associated study data.