Vanderbilt Research Core Facilities
John Manning, Susan Meyn, Larry Marnett
Research Synergy:
Shared Resources return high value for the money
Science is at the heart of every core laboratory.
Research community is integral to success of core labs.
Cores are overseen by faculty advisory committees at multiple levels.
Centers have specifically defined input and membership on these
committees
Cores provide cost effective way to conduct state-of-the-art research,
promote cutting edge science and mentor young investigators.
Education, training and new technology development are part of the
core mission.
600
Vanderbilt Funding Overview
50
All sources
NIH
43.8
VUMC cores
45
44.8
43
500
40
35
388
32.4
400
29.1
300
278
225
236
312
299
298
313
25
250
20
19.2
200
13.8
26.4
286
30
332
15
16.4
15
10
100
5
0
0
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Core Billing Millions $
Funding Millions $
39.7
Shared Resources:
Investments in Technology and Science
More than 90 core labs covering a range of technologies:
•Genomics and DNA Technology
•Proteomics and Structural Biology
•Computing and Informatics
•Animal Care
•Human, Animal Imaging and Radiochemistry
•Cell Imaging and Analysis
https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/oor/research-cores-and-shared-resources
Ongoing institutional commitment to supporting cutting-edge technology, high-end
instrumentation in the shared resource environment.
•Since 2008, Vanderbilt has committed over $7 million matching to 45 federal
shared equipment grants awarded to Vanderbilt PIs.
•Internal RFA, other investments in cores approximately $4 million each year.
Shared Resources: Institutional Commitment
Cores are a key part of the research enterprise
• 35 Institutional Shared Resources integrated into research efforts
across campus, with more than 90 cores overall
Institutional Shared
Resource Oversight
Committee (ISROC)
core advisory committee
Associate
Vice
Chancellors
for Research
Faculty – Core
Scientific Director
Core Manager or
Operations
Director
Research
Cores and
Shared
Resources
Centers,
e.g. VICC,
DRTC
All Vanderbilt
Investigators
Core Research
Technicians
Senior Technical
Specialists
Vanderbilt Core Facilities – Institutional Support & Oversight
Coordinated, centralized oversight ensures best practices.
• Consistent recharge policy – VUMC Guidelines for cores designed to ensure
compliance with OMB Uniform Guidance.
• Financial oversight and support facilitated by Office of Research.
• C.O.R.E.S. billing and management system – ensures appropriate cost recovery.
• Professional development for core technical staff – powerful tool for retention
of valuable expertise.
• Policy of institution-wide access, consistent with federal requirements.
Link:https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/oor/core-administration
Centralized Oversight
Consistent recharge policy across all cores.
• Governed by OMB Uniform Guidance
• Dedicated institutional and
administrative support
• Business plan development
• Compliance and training
• Includes specific guidance:
 managing center memberships
 external users
 federal policies
•
Guiding principle: One service = one price
for federal grants
Allowable costs &
user fees
Scientific
Oversight
VUMC
Guidelines for
Research
Shared
Resources
Starting a new
recharge center
Systems &
Processes
Supports for Cores
Separate core professional career track:
• Positions:
Core Laboratory Manager
Core Laboratory Coordinator
Core Research Assistants, Levels I, II and III
• Great tool for retaining excellent technical staff.
• Important to maintaining continuity of core service quality.
• Appointed through the Office of Research
Culture of Collaboration
• Major research centers are partners with
institution in core development and oversight
• Foundational efforts to centralize core
operations, billing and oversight began with
Cancer Center
• Ongoing relationships, integration and
alignment of missions
Strategic spending of institutional
dollars:
• Faculty recruitments: no institutional $$ in
start-up packages for “core-able” new
equipment
• Matching funds to new grants
• Competitive internal development and
equipment programs for cores
• Standardized approach to S10 program
• Support for Centers assumes use to develop
and maintain shared resources
Cost Management Principles
• Tolerate fund balance surplus, equivalent to no
more than 3 months’ operating expense
• Encourage outreach, training opportunities and
education within core facilities
• In the current climate, institutional subsidy is a
necessity
• Partial indirect cost recovery for external
academic use
• Dedicated administrative support
Cost Recovery Solutions at
Vanderbilt
 Develop consistent system to manage recording core charges
and revenues
– CORES: Core Ordering and Enterprise Reporting System
 Educate grant managers and administrators
– Regular outreach to core users and rate-payers
– Consolidated core administration
S10 Program Coordination
Internal proposals required
ISROC “study section” to critique and rank for priority
Standardized matching scheme
Priority for projects that will place equipment in cores –
ensures financial, operational efficiency and broad scientific
impact
• Since 2009, Vanderbilt has committed over $7 million in
matching to 44 federal shared equipment grants awarded to
Vanderbilt PIs.
•
•
•
•
Centralized Administration
Consolidation:
• Before: Decentralized support involving 30+
non-specialist individuals
• After: Team of 6 experienced core
administrators
• Result: Expansion of support for best
practices, improved consistency across all
cores
Shared Resources: Investments in Infrastructure
Investments in basic science research, with new/consolidated genomics
technology and data analysis cores:
VANTAGE – Vanderbilt Technologies for Advanced Genomics
VANGARD – VANTAGE Analysis & Research Design
NIH-ARRA-funded renovations
G20 Award
G20RR030956-01
Leveraged ARRA
funding to accomplish
core consolidations
Investments in translational cancer research, with consolidated tissue and
pathology cores:
Translational Pathology Shared Resource
Before:
8 separate cores
Now:
3 consolidated shared
resources
NIH-ARRA-funded renovations
CCSG supplement
P30CA068485-14S4
Leveraging institutional and NIH resources to
benefit many
Example: Cell Imaging Shared Resource (CISR)
One Shared Resource
Supported by multiple Centers:
• Cancer (P30)
• Diabetes (P30)
• Digestive Disease (P30)
• Kennedy Center (P30 – U54)
• Vision (P30)
Benefits center members and
all Vanderbilt PIs
Ensuring Managing Center Member Benefits:
Scholarships
Issue: Center members, external reviewers and program officers
expect discounted core service rates for center
Result: Not ideally compliant with federal cost accounting rules, OMB
Uniform Guidance and the FARs.
Solution: Eliminate center-specific discounts. Vanderbilt has
implemented a system of internal credit: Scholarships.
Outcome:
Multi-Center support for a single unified core facility →credit
vouchers → promote use of core → reduce costs to center members.
Centers decide how to distribute scholarships to meet programmatic
needs.
S10 Reporting Requirements
Submitted to NIH:
Instrument
Performance
Report
•Vanderbilt
submits
every year
Final
Progress
Report
•PI submits at
expiration of
grant, at end of
Year 1
Annual
Usage
Report
Annual
Usage
Report
Annual
Usage
Report
Annual
Usage
Report
•PI submits at end of •PI submits at end of •PI submits at end of •PI submits at end of
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Annual
Advisory
Committee
Report
In red: New requirements
Annuial
Advisory
Committee
Report
Annual
Advisory
Committee
Report
Annual
Advisory
Committee
Report
Annual
Advisory
Committee
Report
Cost Recovery Issues:
Conflicts between compliance and
program expectations can:
 limit core access
 result in creation of multiple operating units
 increase administrative burden
The biggest challenge is reconciling varying funding
program or agency directives
– e.g. NIH vs. NSF
– Increasingly, non-Federal vs. Federal
Cost Recovery Issues
(2009 slide)
 NIH caps indirect costs; core activity increases overall
administrative costs
– Highly functioning cores increase institutional subsidy for
research
 Increasing institutional subsidy of research/core facilities
makes our cores less attractive to non-Vanderbilt users
– We need to recover minimal administrative costs
 Every year, more cores meet the working definition of
specialized service center (>$1M activity each year)
– Service fees to recover full cost are prohibitive
– It will become increasingly difficult to subsidize our own users
Proposed Solutions
Successful core facilities do more than exist, they excel at providing service and access to technology.
To enable successful core facilities:
• Change the OMB Uniform Guidance (esp. specialized service centers)– not easy, or under NIH
control.
• Issue an NIH-wide guide to operating core facilities in compliance with A21 NCRR has spearheaded
recent FAQ effort. DONE – Thank you!
• Increase the NIH cap on indirect costs - highly functioning cores increase institutional subsidy for
research. Increasing institutional subsidy of research/core facilities and the need to recover makes
cores unattractive to non-Vanderbilt users.
• Inter-agency cooperation is essential; cores need the flexibility to serve all federally funded
investigators – not NIH only, but also NSF, DOD, DOE etc.
• Allow cores to build capital equipment purchase cost into service rates: depreciation of equipment
is not sufficient to maintain core technology.
• Encourage program officers across all ICs to recognize that the best cores serve multiple programs
–Diversity of use and technology = excellent shared resources