The HARVARD UROLOGIC RESEARCH CENTER

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The absence of fundamental knowledge of the genitourinary tract severely limits the development of new and innovative therapeutic options for a variety of common illnesses, including age-related and post-partum urinary incontinence, various forms of bladder instability, urinary tract complications of benign prostatic disease, chronic pelvic pain, and voiding dysfunction originating from congenital anomalies. In the following pages we describe our vision for a research center of excellence in urology, which we have named the Harvard Urologic Research Center (HURC). Our major goal in developing this program has been to assemble an interdisciplinary team of investigators who employ state-of-the-art approaches in basic science and translational research, who have had a history of highly successful collaborative relationships, and who are committed to working together to bring a broad range of technical and scientific expertise to fundamental studies of urological disease. The integrative theme of the HURC is "Tissue Renewal in the Genitourinary Tract". Implicit in this theme is the recognition that many functional deficits observed clinically in urologic practice might be reversed or restored if sufficient knowledge about tissue architecture and remodeling, intercellular circuitry and cell signaling, and other processes characteristic of the cells and tissues of the urogenital system were understood in fundamental terms. The long-range objective of this program will be to integrate knowledge in basic cell biology, tissue engineering, biochemistry, molecular biology, proteomics, and genomics into a scientific network of collaboration that has not existed before. The four "missions" of the HURC will be to: (1) significantly expand the fundamental knowledge of the hollow organs of the urinary tract (ureter, bladder and urethra); (2) direct new, cutting-edge technologies specifically toward clinical urological problems, including cancer; (3) create a center of research and teaching excellence that will attract investigators nationally and internationally; and (4) establish a mentoring environment that will encourage outstanding new investigators to focus on urologic diseases in their career path. To support the "Tissue Renewal" theme, the investigators in the HURC will be clustered within three primary areas of scientific focus that will serve as anchor disciplines for the Center: (1) Tissue Engineering, (2) Signal Transduction and (3) Angiogenesis/Vascular Biology. We seek to create a totally new program in urology research, one that has the potential to develop into one of the strongest and most innovative investigative programs focused on urologic disease in the world.