LIMR supports clinical research and provides clinical investigation services to all Main Line Health entities, including Lankenau Medical Center, Bryn Mawr Hospital, Paoli Hospital, Riddle Hospital and Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital. We also provide clinical investigation services to practicing Main Line Health physicians, private/non-Main Line Health affiliated physicians, as well as to industry and biotechnology companies.

Central to clinical research is the clinical trial, a research study that tests how new medications, detection or diagnostic tools, or devices work in humans.

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COVID-19 clinical research at Main Line Health

Plasma therapy

The Clinical Research Center (CRC) at LIMR can assist Main Line Health clinicians who want to administer convalescent human plasma to their COVID-19 patients through a nationwide Expanded Access program being run through the Mayo Clinic.

The protocol provides a mechanism to obtain donated human plasma from COVID-19 survivors for use as an experimental therapy for COVID management. This permits a pipeline to retrieve the plasma from the Red Cross and to include relevant patient data in a nationwide project that will result in the most up-to-date information about the effectiveness and safety of this therapy.

CRC can guide Main Line Health clinicians through the process of registering for the program, and then help them with the follow-up and reporting requirements.

Prepared step-by-step guidance is available for your teams for distribution. For more, contact Samantha Ferrante, CRC associate director, ferrantesa@mlhs.org, or Paul Gilman, MD, CRC director, at gilmanp@mlhs.org

Ruxolitinib therapy

Main Line Health is registered in an Expanded Access open-label program to administer ruxolitinib, which inhibits Janus kinases. One of the drug’s functions is to inhibit abnormal inflammatory reactions, or “cytokine storms,” in various disease conditions — symptoms also commonly seen in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The Main Line Health principal investigator is Luciano Kapelusznik, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

For more, contact Samantha Ferrante, CRC associate director, ferrantesa@mlhs.org, or Paul Gilman, MD, CRC director, at gilmanp@mlhs.org

ECMOCARD study

ECMOCARD is a multicenter observational study of patients who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and are being treated in hospitals and intensive care units (ICU) that are participating in this research. The study aims to describe clinical features of pulmonary dysfunction; incidence of ICU admission and use of mechanical ventilation and ECMO; ECMO technical characteristics; duration of ECMO; and survival of patients with COVID-19.

All patients admitted to ICU with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection with real-time PCR and/or next-generation sequencing will be included in the study.

This research is being conducted at collaborating hospitals, including Main Line Health, and other hospitals in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America. For more on this study, contact Sherry McDermott, RN, mcdermotts@mlhs.org, or 484.476.8641.

Translational medicine

A main focus of LIMR's clinical research activity is translational medicine, which is the facilitation of moving significant laboratory findings into clinical applications. When your patients participate in a clinical trial, they may:

  • Gain access to potential new treatments for a disease or condition
  • Take advantage of a cutting-edge health care choice
  • Advance medical knowledge
  • Help other patients who may develop or have a similar disease or condition

If you are considering initiating clinical research, our staff may be able help you with the following:

  • Feasibility review
  • Funding and budget review
  • Statistical design
  • Communication with sponsor
  • Guidance for regulatory/IRB submission
  • Assistance with informed consent forms preparation
  • Organization of initial site visits and ongoing audit visits
  • Data management guidance
  • Research coordinators
  • Marketing and promotion
  • Contract review
  • Editorial assistance for manuscript preparation
  • Accounts payable
  • Post-study financial record maintenance and reconciliation

Other services may be available. Please inquire with clinical research managers to learn more.

Various clinical trials are currently taking place within Main Line Health through:

For more information, please contact: