Windber Research Institute or WRI is a private, non-profit biomedical research institute that is focused on women's health

Health

Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

, cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease

Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...

 and processes of aging, is located on Somerset Avenue in Windber

Windber, Pennsylvania

Windber is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, eight miles south of Johnstown. It was at one time a place of industrial activities which included coal mining, lumbering, and the manufacture of fire brick. In 1897, the community was founded by coal barons Charles and Edward Julius Berwind...

, PA

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. It opened in 2001.

The research of WRI is mainly divided into tissue

Tissue (biology)

Tissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism. A tissue is an ensemble of cells, not necessarily identical, but from the same origin, that together carry out a specific function. These are called tissues because of their identical functioning...

 banking, data warehousing of clinical, molecular (genomic and proteomic) and imaging data and data analysis and interpretation along with the biomedical informatics team.

Through an existing relationship with the Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Walter Reed Army Medical Center

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center was the United States Army's flagship medical center until 2011. Located on 113 acres in Washington, D.C., it served more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military...

, in the Clinical Breast Care Program, WRI currently has greater than 14,000 highly annotated breast tissues, alone, with more than 500 data fields and single pathologist review on each patient, integrated with all the molecular and imaging data as well. Studies are ongoing regarding tumor

Tumor

A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...

 heterogeneity, disease

Disease

A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...

 and patient stratification

Stratified medicine

Stratified medicine is the management of a group of patients with shared biological characteristics by using molecular diagnostic testing to select the best therapy in order to achieve the best possible medicinal outcome for that group....

, environment and lifestyle risk factors, ethnicity, and biomarker development, all with a focus on addressing existing clinical problems.

In addition, WRI is examining the impact of lifestyle modification programs, using diet, stress management and exercise along with group support, to reduce cardiovascular risk factors, control obesity

Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...

 and impact diabetes. This is part of the Ornish Lifestyle Program that is offered at Windber.

Its diagnostic capabilities include digital and film mammography

Mammography

Mammography is the process of using low-energy-X-rays to examine the human breast and is used as a diagnostic and a screening tool....

, 4-D ultrasound, 16-slice PET/CT and a 3T HD MRI which are integrated into the clinical data, molecular data and image repository.