The Center for the Study of Chronic Metabolic and Rare Diseases (CSCMRD) employs Systems Biology perspective for functional analysis of diverse experimental data In particular, Center’s faculty are interested in the development of relevant biomarkers for longitudinal monitoring for patients with various kinds of illnesses, both multifactorial and genetically defined, and pathophysiological models that adequately describe these disease. Moreover, we a interested in overall metabolic sliding associated with ageing. The metabolic footprints of the body are amenable for correction, either with pharmacological interventions, or with the changes in lifestyle and diet.

One of important goal of the center is to apply systems biology approaches to analyze available biological data collected using high-throughput platforms and to develop a set of user-friendly bioinformatics tools and comprehensive databases capturing clinical and experimental data. An intention for this set of tools is to assist in discovery of novel biomarkers and in design of targeted drugs with potential efficacy to treat human diseases, including the rare and orphan diseases. CSCMRD is a model of collaborative research that bridges the excellence in clinical care and research of Inova Fairfax Hospital with the excellence in basic/genomic research available at George Mason University.

CSCMRD had established both local and global networks of collaboration including the Organization for Rare Diseases India founder Dr. Harsha Rajasimha and the ORDI’s US subsidiary in Fairfax VA. ORDI serves as an umbrella organization representing the collective voice of patients and other stakeholders of rare diseases in India. ORDI brings expertise and leadership in genomics, bioinformatics, information technology, patient advocacy, and public health policy for rare diseases research.

1. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (Key collaborator: Dr. Tatiana Tatarinova
2. Pigment Cell Biology Section, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD (Dr. Vincent Hearing.
3. Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (Key collaborator: Dr. Young Hwa Ju)
4. University of Arkansas Medical Center, Little Rock, AR (Key collaborator: Dr. Galina Glazko)
5. Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (Key collaborator: Dr. Ganiraju Manyam)
6. Functional Food Center, Texas Woman's University, TX (Key collaborator: Dr. Danik Martyrosyan)
7. BUC, University Of Modern Sciences, Dubai (Key collaborator: Dr. Mohammed Jarrar)
8. "Istituto Superiore Sanita" - Rome, Italy (Key collaborator: Dr. Alessandro Giuliani)
9. Research Centre for Medical Genetics, Moscow, Russia (Key collaborator: Dr. Mikhail Skoblov)
10. Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia (Key collaborator: Dr. Pavel Laktionov)
11. Transplantation Department, St.Peterburg State Medical University named after I.P.Pavlov and Organ Procurement Center, St.Peterburg State Research Institute for Emergency named after I.I.Janelidze, Russia (Key collaborator: Dr. Pavel Laktionov)
12. Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Moscow, Russia (Key collaborator: Dr. Sergey Bruskin)

The center welcomes collaborations in the key areas of focus including:
* Rare diseases and orphan drugs research
* Pathophysiology of chronic metabolic diseases and ageing
* Personalized metabolically guided approaches to the management of human health
* Genomics and systems biology