Scientific Concept of the National Cohort (status ... - Nationale Kohorte

C.1
C.1 Annex: Description of the study centers
procedures (documentaries) is available. A well-functioning laboratory unit exists for the
management of blood sampling and large biorepositories. Facilities for specialized examinations
(MRI) are available in-house. New rounds of follow-up repeat exposure assessment
started in EPIC, including MRI (whole body), movement detectors, and other examinations.
DKFZ also houses the cancer registry of Baden-Wuerttemberg which will facilitate followup
of incident cancer events. In addition to the EPIC study, several epidemiologic studies
that are led by division members are ongoing, such as the multicenter case-control study
MARIE or the large-scale cohort study LUSI.
The Institute of Public Health is part of the Medical School/Medical faculty at Heidelberg
University. The aim of the institute is to contribute to improving health through research,
teaching, and direct services (patient care, consulting) in developing countries and at home.
The staff at the unit of Epidemiology and Biostatistics is well trained in conducting large epidemiologic
studies. The Institute hosts the PhD program epidemiology (Graduiertenkolleg
793, see http://grk.dermis.net) that currently enrolls about 40 PhD students and that will be
linked to the planned cohort with several PhD projects. In this cohort study, the collaboration
with clinical partners at the Medical Faculty of the Heidelberg University will be particularly
strong, encompassing cardiovascular, pharmacological, psychiatric, dental, biostatistical,
and other specific expertise.
The DKFZ will run the study center Heidelberg/Mannheim, coordinated by H. Greiser and
R. Kaaks. It is planned to establish a migrant cohort which will be strongly linked to the
National Cohort, with 5,000 migrants in the study center Mannheim/Heidelberg. H. Becher
will be PI of this migrant study component, and in view of this will also act as a Co-PI for the
Heidelberg/Mannheim study center overall.
For medical examinations, study center Heidelberg/Mannheim will collaborate with the Heidelberg
Medical Center. H.-U. Kauczor, head of the department of radiology, will be collaborating
scientist for research involving magnetic resonance imaging.
Description of the study center Heidelberg/Mannheim
In Mannheim 10,000 individuals will be recruited and will include inhabitants of the city of
Mannheim. The study center will be established close to the railway station in Mannheim
to ensure a good access for the study participants of the region. The central location of the
study center in Mannheim is advantageous, because this facilitates the recruitment of the
Turkish migrants as an important subpopulation of the cohort as they represent 5.7% of the
residents in Mannheim. If additional funding for a migrant cohort can be acquired, this will
become relevant. Under this condition, it is foreseen to recruit 5,000 migrants from this area.
The study center will comprise rooms for investigation, interviews and preanalytical preparation
and interim storage of biosamples (in total covering about 500 m²). The close cooperation
with the cancer registry Baden-Wuerttemberg, which is located at DKFZ, ensures
that incident cancer cases can be efficiently traced. The close vicinity to the study coordinating
center at DKFZ, the Institute of Public Health, and the Medical Faculty at Heidelberg
facilitates the close cooperation with clinicians and associated scientists from the faculty of
Medicine.
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