COBRE for Skeletal Health and Repair

描述(由申请人提供)：生物医学研究卓越中心(COBRE)的长期目标是发展一个多学科的转换研究中心，专注于发现软骨和关节健康与疾病的机制，并制定修复策略。在Cobre的第一阶段，在指导初级调查人员成为R01赠款资助研究计划的领导人方面取得了很大进展。Cobre第二阶段的主要目标是通过招募更有前途的初级研究人员加入Cobre研究计划来保持成功，从而进一步扩大和加强罗德岛医院和布朗大学的骨骼研究基础。新的研究项目涵盖临床、生物和工程研究领域。项目1分析了在骨骼发育过程中机械负荷如何影响长骨生长。项目2研究成人关节疾病中关节软骨退化的情况。项目3开发了从脂肪组织中获取干细胞以修复骨骼的新策略。研究人员和导师来自罗德岛医院/布朗大学阿尔伯特医学院的三个科室(整形外科、医学和分子药理学、生理学和生物技术)。初级调查人员包括一名生物学家、一名生物工程师和一名临床医生/科学家。导师还包括生物学家、工程师和临床医生/科学家。Eachmentor是包括NIH R01在内的多项联邦拨款的首席调查员。他们将监督初级研究员的研究项目，作为他们的榜样，并指导他们获得联邦研究项目拨款。我们的愿景是，通过维持和发展这一研究基础设施，我们将使临床医生能够与基础研究科学家并肩工作，初级研究人员与高级研究人员并肩工作，生物学家与生物工程师并肩工作。这种多学科方法对于制定预防和治疗骨骼关节疾病的翻译策略是绝对必要的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) is to develop a multidisciplinary translational research center focusing on discovering cartilage and joint health and disease mechanisms and developing repair strategy. During the Phase I of COBRE, great progress has been made in mentoring junior investigators into leaders of R01 grant funded research programs. The main objective of the Phase II COBRE is to sustain the success by recruiting more promising junior investigators into the COBRE research programs thereby further expanding and enhancing the base of skeletal research in Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University. The new research projects encompass clinical, biological, and engineering research fields. Project 1 analyzes how mechanical loading affects long bone growth during skeletal development. Project 2 examine how joint cartilage degenerates in adult joint diseases. Project 3 develops novel strategies of harvesting stem cells from fat tissues to repair bone. The investigators and mentors are selected from three departments in Rhode Island Hospital/The Alpert Medical School of Brown University (Orthopaedics, Medicine, and Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biotechnology). The junior investigators include a biologist, a bioengineer, and a clinician/scientist. The mentors also include biologists, engineers, and clinician/scientists. Eachmentor is a Principal Investigator of multiple federal grants including NIH R01. They will supervise junior investigator's research projects, serve as their role models, and mentor them to obtain federal research project grants. Our vision is, by sustaining and developing this research infrastructure, we will enable clinicians working side-by-side with basic research scientists, junior investigators with senior investigators, and biologists with bioengineers. This multidisciplinary approach is absolutely necessary to develop translational strategies for prevention and treatment of skeletal joint diseases.