Manne Research Institute Voucher Program

The institutional biorepository operated at Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago provides the infrastructure for collecting, processing, storing, and releasing biological specimens and data used for approved research studies to researchers at Lurie Children’s and their community partners. If you are interested in obtaining a voucher for this service, please complete the application and consultation to scope your project. 

Microscopy provides services with a variety of light and confocal microscopes. If you are interested in obtaining a voucher for this service, please complete the application and consultation to scope your project. 

Histology provides a wide range of histology services with both drop-off service and self-serve cutting stations. In-house services include:

• Tissue processing
• Paraffin embedding
• Frozen embedding
• PPFE tissue sectioning
• Frozen tissue sectioning 
• H&E staining
• Special stains
• Full slide scanning 

The Smith Child Health Catalyst provides activation energy to advance community and population health, outcomes research, and evaluation focused on children and families within Lurie Children's and beyond. Catalyst is a service center that strengthens interdisciplinary collaboration, academic competitiveness, and scientific rigor of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research within Manne Research Institute. Catalyst is made up of faculty scientific leads and a dedicated team of project management, statistician, and research coordinator staff, who team up with investigators and community partners to develop proposals and carry out funded work. Catalyst also provides consultation and education to build capacity in these approaches and serve as a resource. Catalyst faculty and staff hold expertise in digital-engagement, user-centered design, practiced-based research, community engagement, implementation science, and program evaluation. Catalyst also has extensive experience recruiting, working with, and retaining research participants from historically marginalized groups.

Types of Services: 

Consultations, service provisions, and collaboration/team science requests are available for many services. 

• Program evaluation
• Scientific and evaluation contributions to proposal development
• Developing survey, interview, and focus group questions and protocols
• Use of the Voices of Child Health in Chicago Parent Panel (VOCHIC)
• Patient, family, and community-engaged research
• Research in the primary care community practice setting
• Identifying, recruiting, engaging and retaining participants 
• Data collection (survey, needs assessments, interviews, focus groups)
• Quantitative and qualitative analysis 
• Dissemination of results
• And more

If you are interested in obtaining a voucher for Catalyst services, please begin by completing a Catalyst Service Request to scope your project. After scoping your project and receipt of a Catalyst Service Proposal, you can complete the voucher application. 

Quantitative science experts collaborate with researchers across Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute to provide cutting-edge statistical and analytical support and computational techniques to maximize research impact and improve the health outcomes of pediatric patients. Their expertise in statistics, bioinformatics, database analytics, applied clinical informatics, and predictive analytics enables researchers to test hypotheses, answer research questions, and pursue understanding of behaviors across different populations.

Researchers can apply for vouchers to cover the following services:

• Biostatistical support (sample size, power calculations, statistical study design)
• Statistical analysis and interpretation
• Data analytics 

To work with our services you must schedule a consultation with our teams first, receive a scope of work and budget and then submit your voucher application. You can engage our team by:

1. Creating a profile in our platform (this step will only need to be completed for first time requesters) and
2. Submitting a Quantitative Science project intake request form.

The Clinical Research Unit (CRU) at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is a 6,565-square-foot dedicated space for investigators to engage in clinical research within an optimal environment that offers a flexible infrastructure and highly trained staff, thereby ensuring excellence in the conduct of clinical research. 

This state-of-the-art facility on the 19th floor includes eight outpatient rooms, six private inpatient beds, and consultation rooms. Experienced research nurses and medical assistants are on hand to ensure the proficient implementation of research protocols in a child- and family-friendly setting. 

The CRU provides investigators with the specific clinical services required for their projects. Ongoing quality control programs and frequent communication with the research teams allow for the highest standard of patient care and data collection. 

If you have an unfunded project that requires a dedicated research space in the CRU, you can apply for consideration of a voucher. Please note that this applies only for CRU space only (tier 1) to help support your project.

If you have an emergency use case, expanded access program protocol, or investigator-initiated protocol with minimal or no funding, you can apply for Investigational Drug Services (IDS) Pharmacy administrative or dispensing fee support through the voucher application.

The Office of Research Development (ORD) provides investigators with a list of recommended external vendors and guidance on grant and manuscript editing support options. ORD does not currently provide in-house grant and manuscript editing services but is available to help scope the need.

If you are interested in a voucher for writing support, review the writing support tip sheet before submitting an application. Questions on writing support vendors or processes can be sent to researchdevelopment@luriechildrens.org