This application proposes a regional tri-state Child Health Research Center with a primary focus in developmental biology. The Center will be run as a single integrated facility. The Center will establish an organizational framework around which the Pediatric Departments at the Universities of Colorado, New Mexico and Utah can function cohesively to strengthen research training and foster research effort of young faculty in developmental biology. Developmental biology impacts upon a wide variety of subspecialties within pediatrics; this center will not focus upon any organ system oriented subspecialty but rather upon basic biology of development and its relevance to clinical practice. Unique aspects of the program include: 1) broadening the research environment for young faculty by combining efforts among the three institutions; 2) bringing together a large cadre of committed senior scientists with expertise in the critical areas of: molecular biology, cell biology and integrative physiology; 3) integrating three regional departments of pediatrics at quite different stages in their own development. A variety of modern biological expertise and technologies will be readily available to a young investigator, regardless of their own research theme. Such a collaborative arrangement will ensure a large pool of young scientists potentially supportable by the Center and introduces a highly competitive environment within the Center for selecting investigators of high quality and promise. A unique objectivity and assessment of investigators and productivity is achieved by representation of faculty from three Universities. Integrative conferences and research planning sessions will be used to encourage interaction among junior and senior faculty addressing related research areas at different levels of biologic organization and to stimulate translation of research ideas to clinical settings. The broad support from three Universities will substantially expand the resources, and potentially the regional impact, of this Center.
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