Over the past four years with the opportunity provided by the P30 CCMBM grant, our loosely organized set of musculoskeletal labs has developed into a well-respected Musculoskeletal Research Center with 75 members from 22 Departments, over 250 publications (158 in Reporter), a new facility with 12 musculoskeletal labs co-localized with the Administration and Research Cores, an active and productive Pilot and Feasibility Program, a popular Musculoskeletal Seminar Series and well-attended Annual Symposia. Our fields of interest have covered a wide variety of common musculoskeletal disorders from osteoporosis to osteoarthritis to tendon injuries to cancer. We now have $59 million in funding with $35 million from the NIH, and were recently awarded a T32 Training grant in Skeletal Metabolic Diseases. During the next five years, we plan to grow our Center to include a wider range of research interests stemming from our larger and more diverse research base, such as cancer metastasis to bone, scoliosis and intervertebral disc disease, tendon to bone healing, cartilage repair and stem cells in regenerative medicine. Our enrichment program will be expanded to include mentoring activities and training and education in specialized research techniques. The CCMBM enables the offering of many new services that will help drive the science of the research base, such as an expansion of the animal models to include zebrafish, isolation of specific populations of cells using histology and new non-invasive techniques to monitor tissue quality. Our Research Cores are: Core B: Musculoskeletal Structure and Strength, Core C: Histology and Morphometry, and Core D: Animal Models. With the help of the ICTS, we are very excited to include a new emphasis on translation of our animal research to the patient. The CCMBM will continue to provide leadership in promoting quality research, foster collaborations and interdisciplinary approaches, expand the ranks of the research base and help drive the science of musculoskeletal investigators by providing increasingly sophisticated and powerful technologies through our research cores.
Musculoskeletal disorders such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and muscular dystrophy are a main cause of pain and suffering leading to diminished quality and lost time from work. Our research uses animal models to understand the biological factors underlying musculoskeletal disorders. We use histology, imaging and mechanical testing techniques to assess the structure and strength of bone, tendon and muscle.
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