Current understanding of chronic diseases is based on crude clinical characterization, imaging studies, and laboratory testing that has evolved over decades. The Measurement to Understand Reclassification of Disease of Cabarrus/Kannapolis (MURDOCK) Study is a multi-tiered, longitudinal study designed to enable classification of chronic diseases using clinically annotated biospecimen collections, -omic technologies, electronic health records, and standard epidemiological methods. We expect that detailed molecular classification will improve mechanistic understanding of chronic diseases, augmenting discovery and testing of new treatments, and allowing refined selection of prevention and treatment strategies. The MURDOCK Study Community Registry and Biorepository will serve as a bridge for validation of initial exploratory studies, a platform for future prospective studies in targeted populations, and a resource of both data (analytical and clinical) and samples for cross-registry meta-analyses and comparative population studies. Participation of local health care providers and the Cabarrus County/Kannapolis, NC, community will facilitate future medical research and provide the opportunity to educate and inform the public about genomic research, actively engaging them in shaping the future of medical discovery and treatment of chronic diseases. We present the rationale and study design for the MURDOCK Community Registry and Biorepository and baseline characteristics of the first 6000 participants.
Keywords: Disease reclassification; biorepository; community registry.