Funded Projects

The purpose of our proposal is to obtain supplementary serological/blood and CSF aliquots obtained during hospital admission or outpatient evaluation of patients presenting with an initial demyelinating event for a primary diagnosis purpose. The supplementary research aliquots will be obtained with patient consent and will be transferred and stored at the UB Biobank. Patients will also be consented for their approval in providing their demographics, clinical and MRI metrics to the serological/CSF biomarkers. Use of these samples will be available for future projects/grants that will aim to identify new sensitive biomarkers. UB or outside collaborators proposals to use these samples will be welcomed, reviewed and prioritized for distribution by the PI’s. The samples will be managed by UB Biorepository. The study initiation includes collection and storing of 200 patient samples. In particular, each patient will provide 3 samples: - One 10mL blood collection sample with K2 EDTA container - One 6mL blood collection sample for trace element testing - One 1.9mL FluidX tri-coded tube for cerebrospinal fluid collection The collected samples will be transferred to Biorepository where aliquoting will be performed. With the aforementioned raw materials, total of 9 aliquots will be produced (1 buffy coat, 4 plasma, 3 serum and 1 CSF aliquots). An estimate from the UB Biorepository is included with this application. The total start-up costs are $7,452.00. For the Buffalo Blue Sky project, we are including $5,000.00 from Dr. Norma Nowak coin award. This will provide the necessary funds for financing the biobank supplies for initial 200 patients’ samples. The additional $2,500 expected to be matched by UB. Additional $2,000 from a previous Blue Sky coin owned by Dr Weinstock-Guttman (originally $20,000 coin) will be used for expenses that include the coordinator time (IRB application and sample monitoring) as well as support for neurology residents involved in this study.