This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
With support from the National Science Foundation, the Skeletal Biology Research Focus Area (SBRFA) centered at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and Pharmacy (NEOUCOM) will acquire three major research instruments: 1) a high-resolution CT scanner (Scanco vivaCT75 µCT scanner); 2) a machine to test the strength of bone and other tissues (Instron ElectroPuls E3000 Universal Testing Machine) and 3) a machine to quantify DNA expression levels (Applied Biosystems 7900HT Real-Time PCR system). While the SBRFA has strong support from NEOUCOM and the state of Ohio in terms of space and faculty, the equipment will fill a major gap in the focus area by establishing state-of-the-art core facilities for studying bone and cartilage biology. The equipment will help the focus area reach its full potential in collaborative and integrative research and training in skeletal biology.
The uniqueness of the SBRFA relative to other skeletal research groups throughout the country is its integrated perspective on studying skeletal biology. SBRFA researchers study bone and cartilage across all levels of organization from molecular pathways to the evolution of whole organisms. The equipment will initially support 13 projects studying bone that are either ongoing or in preliminary stages. Most projects are collaborative and will incorporate more than one instrument. In fact, SBRFA researchers identified the equipment to promote integrative studies of bone form (CT scanner), performance (UTM) and molecular processes (RT-PCR). The CT scanner will be involved in scanning objects ranging from fossil skeletons to artificial fingers that have been bioengineered to replace amputated elements. The UTM will be integrated with CT scanning in studying the relationships between bone form and strength. Finally, the real-time PCR system will identify molecular events that occur as bone responds to loading as well as novel applications documenting gene expression during skeletal development. Current funding for these projects spans four NSF divisions, demonstrating the breadth of research in the focus area. Because SBRFA researchers transcend several subfields of skeletal biology in their collaborative efforts, the research projects facilitated by the instrumentation have the potential to generate novel findings that cross traditional disciplines in skeletal biology.
The establishment of core facilities with these three major pieces of instrumentation will promote research training for postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students as well as junior faculty affiliated with the SBRFA. The instrumentation will facilitate collaboration among SBRFA members at NEOUCOM and affiliated institutions through shared access to these facilities designed for cross-disciplinary research. Moreover, regional collaborations will be enhanced through alliance with the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, OH - a developing project among five regional institutions (including NEOUCOM) dedicated to revolutionizing research, economic development and healthcare in northeastern Ohio. Specific benefits to graduate education will focus on training students to research scientific questions using a multi-disciplinary toolkit. Undergraduate research experiences will be enhanced by new research opportunities. Finally, the instrumentation will be incorporated into community outreach through "hands-on" programs supported by participating SBRFA faculty that expose K-12 students in northeastern Ohio to the scientific research process.
" Federal Award ID: 0959438 took place over 03/01/2013 to 09/30/2013. This major research instrumentation award supported the purchase of three pieces of equipment including 1) a Scanco vivaCT75 µCT scanner; 2) an Instron ElectroPuls E3000 electrodynamic universal testing machine (UTM) and 3) an Applied Biosystems 7900HT fast Real-Time PCR system (RT-PCR). The goal of the project was to implement these three major pieces of instrumentation as core facilities for the Skeletal Biology Research Focus Area (SBRFA) at the Northeastern Ohio Medical University (NEOMED). The three pieces of equipment were purchased, installed and operated over the project period as part of several projects that provided multiple research, educational and outreach opportunities. Nineteen projects, from 16 principal investigators, had dedicated use of these pieces of equipment over the award period. Most of these projects involved some aspect of bone biology in their research efforts and nearly all are continuing after the NSF award period. Fourteen of these projects used the µCT scanner while five incorporated the UTM and eight used the RT-PCR in their work. Four of these projects have acquired NSF funding to directly support their project, while five projects have applied for NSF funding. The intellectual merits of the various projects are highly diverse. This is to be expected given the breadth of research in skeletal biology at NEOMED ranging from bone microstructure to whole organism evolution. The three pieces of equipment supported work ranging from tissue engineering of bone constructs for healing bone defects to studying hearing damage in the bony ears of whales from the Arctic to how natural chemical products help prevent cancer. Several studies examined the molecular components of bone, how bone shape relates to bone strength and how these relationships evolved across birds and mammals. Collectively, the breadth of work using these pieces of equipment helped to foster new ideas and research directions that cross-cut traditional research boundaries. In addition to novel research ideas, these equipment helped to foster multiple new collaborations at NEOMED, with local universities and with other schools throughout the United States. The collaborations developed during the award period will carry on and continue to benefit from the equipment purchased through the MRI award. The equipment provided ample opportunity for training of young scientists and health professionals. During the award period, 91 undergraduate, graduate, medical or postdoctoral trainees received educational and research experiences on these equipment items. Opportunities to use these state of the art equipment in research will significantly advance their careers. To date, 34 meeting presentations, 14 publications and 3 theses have been completed that involved these equipment. Advancement for students and scientific dissemination are key outcomes for advancing the scientific and educational missions at NEOMED. Finally, these equipment items have played a key role in several public outreach efforts at NEOMED. Given the lack of scientific facilities in rural OH, these pieces of equipment have helped to broaden the education of our local public, particularly as it relates to bone research and health.
