Over the past five years, we have established a framework for a training program focused on the field of regenerative medicine, as it relates to musculoskeletal disease. We created a program of interdisciplinary musculoskeletal regenerative medicine teams composed of i) a training faculty, ii)) a clinical/surgeon faculty mentor and iii) a trainee. Investigational focus has been on a diverse but interrelated group of projects that consider the reconstitution of injured or missing musculoskeletal tissues with cells, scaffolds and bioactive molecules through: 1) application of findings from developmental biology to treat pediatric disorders, ii) the development and use of bioinformatics technologies to uncover new therapeutic possibilities and iii) strategies to combat the rejection of allogeneic tissue transplants. In this renewal application, we propose to expand our program from its current scope of four postdoctoral trainee positions to five postdoctoral trainees, one of which is reserved for an orthopaedic surgery postdoctoral fellow. We will continue to focus training efforts on Ph.D.'s and M.D.'s intent on a career in interdisciplinary academic regenerative-restorative medicine. The first primary goal will be to provide trainees with combinatorial skill sets in: 1) stem cell and developmental biology; 2) molecular genetics; 3) tissue engineering and materials science; 4) state-of the-art technologies in high-throughput, large scale computational science; and 5) clinical-translational medicine that can be layered on top of their preceding undergraduate and graduate training in one of these areas. The second primary goal will be to educate trainees in an integrated approach to regenerative medicine with hands-on project-oriented teaching in how to i) build, ii) operate in and iii) modify a multidisciplinary tem of colleagues. Our current track record indicates that this team approach has enabled our trainees to receive a comprehensive bench-to-bedside experience in what is required to actualize a bioengineered therapeutic in real world terms. This translational research structure is currently supported by a robust collection of didactic curricula and seminar series designed to introduce and refine the skills needed by postdoctoral trainees to understand, design, compose, undertake and earn extramural financial support for a research project in regenerative medicine. In addition to dedication to providing training to surgeon scientists in basic research, in this renewal increased focus will be placed on exposure of Ph.D. trainees to highly relevant clinical challenges through attendance at grand rounds and attendance/observation of the clinical activities of the trainee's clinical faculty mentor. The T32 research and didactic training program is designed to provide individual trainees two years of funding in preparation for their transition into more specialized training and alternative sources of support.

Public Health Relevance

of the educational and research initiatives in this training program to the health of Americans encompasses the need to train the next generation of biomedical scientists. This training includes i) the application of 'cutting edge' conceptual and technical strategies to musculoskeletal regenerative medicine and ii) the multidisciplinary, team approach required use those strategies from the laboratory to the bedside.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Type
Institutional National Research Service Award (T32)
Project #
5T32AR059033-09
Application #
9748429
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAR1)
Program Officer
Marquitz, Aron
Project Start
2010-04-01
Project End
2021-07-31
Budget Start
2019-08-01
Budget End
2020-07-31
Support Year
9
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Los Angeles
Department
Orthopedics
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
092530369
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90095
Arshi, Armin; Park, Howard Y; Blumstein, Gideon W et al. (2018) Outpatient Posterior Lumbar Fusion: A Population-Based Analysis of Trends and Complication Rates. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 43:1559-1565
Matsumoto, Hiroko; Williams, Brendan; Park, Howard Y et al. (2018) The Final 24-Item Early Onset Scoliosis Questionnaires (EOSQ-24): Validity, Reliability and Responsiveness. J Pediatr Orthop 38:144-151
Orozco, Luz D; Farrell, Colin; Hale, Christopher et al. (2018) Epigenome-wide association in adipose tissue from the METSIM cohort. Hum Mol Genet 27:1830-1846
Zhang, Zijun; Park, Eddie; Lin, Lan et al. (2018) A panoramic view of RNA modifications: exploring new frontiers. Genome Biol 19:11
Park, Eddie; Pan, Zhicheng; Zhang, Zijun et al. (2018) The Expanding Landscape of Alternative Splicing Variation in Human Populations. Am J Hum Genet 102:11-26
Bernthal, Nicholas M; Hegde, Vishal; Zoller, Stephen D et al. (2018) Long-term outcomes of cement in cement technique for revision endoprosthesis surgery. J Surg Oncol 117:443-450
Arshi, Armin; Wang, Christopher; Park, Howard Y et al. (2018) Ambulatory anterior cervical discectomy and fusion is associated with a higher risk of revision surgery and perioperative complications: an analysis of a large nationwide database. Spine J 18:1180-1187
Gibbs, Elizabeth M; Crosbie-Watson, Rachelle H (2017) A Simple and Low-cost Assay for Measuring Ambulation in Mouse Models of Muscular Dystrophy. J Vis Exp :
Arshi, Armin; Sharim, Justin; Park, Don Y et al. (2017) Prognostic determinants and treatment outcomes analysis of osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma of the spine. Spine J 17:645-655
Ajiboye, Remi M; D'Oro, Anthony; Ashana, Adedayo O et al. (2017) Routine Use of Intraoperative Neuromonitoring During ACDFs for the Treatment of Spondylotic Myelopathy and Radiculopathy Is Questionable: A Review of 15,395 Cases. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 42:14-19

Showing the most recent 10 out of 45 publications