University of Michigan's TMJD and Orofacial Pain Interdisciplinary Consortium

描述（由申请人提供）：颞下颌关节疾病和口面疼痛（TMJD/OP）的疾病谱难以诊断和管理，因为其病因和发病机制知之甚少。由于疾病的复杂性和缺乏在这一领域工作的学者，其中许多人利用非常狭窄的“筒仓”， 研究这些疾病的方法。我们建议每年培训四名高素质的临床科学家和基础科学家，以提高跨学科研究人员的数量和质量，从而能够适当地揭示TMJD/OP的潜在机制，并确定最有效的治疗方法。为了实现这一目标，我们将聘请学者进行TMJD/OP的跨学科指导，目标是将长凳连接到床边和背部，以更好地了解三个主要研究领域的这些条件：（1）疼痛机制和治疗;（2）TMJ发病机制;和（3）发育生物学，关节，肌肉和韧带的再生和组织工程。在适当的情况下，嵌入在每一个这些领域将在当代方法，包括生物信息学，基因组学，成像和生物标志物的研究和教学经验。学者将有至少75%的时间用于研究和研究职业发展。个性化的职业发展计划将与每个学者及其跨学科研究导师和导师团队定制。每个计划将包括一个密集的监督研究经验，教学培训，包括指导和协助赠款写作/提交和科学写作，正在进行的导师反馈，正式的年度评估，并在研究的负责任的行为指令。学者的指导团队，教学课程和体验式学习将强调需要了解整个翻译连续体以及导致复杂慢性疼痛状态的“外围”和“中心”因素之间的复杂相互作用。在已有研究者的指导下对跨学科学者进行培训，包括在该领域以外的相关领域工作的学者，可能会带来新的发现，并为TMJD/OP的诊断和治疗创新提供所需的动力。2）识别和使用局部或全身生物标志物以诊断疾病或监测治疗的改善; 3）使用“外周”和中枢神经系统、关节和肌肉成像技术用于更早和更敏感的诊断;以及4）使用生物医学、仿生学和成像来设计和制造生物工程关节。总的来说，这个应用程序提供了一个全面的和基于系统的方法来培训研究人员在TMJD/OP领域。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The spectrum of conditions known as Temporomandibular Joint Disorders and Orofacial Pain (TMJD/OP) are difficult to diagnose and manage because their etiologies and pathogeneses are poorly understood. Progress towards definitive therapies and rational diagnoses has been slow due to the complex nature of the disorders and the lack of scholars working in this field, many of whom utilize a very narrow "silo" approach to investigating these disorders. We propose training four high caliber clinician scientists and basic scientists per year to enhance the number and quality of interdisciplinary researchers that can appropriately unravel the mechanisms underlying TMJD/OP and identify the most effective treatments. Towards this objective, we will engage Scholars for interdisciplinary mentorship in TMJD/OP, with the goal of bridging bench to bedside and back, to better understand these conditions in three main areas of inquiry: (1) pain mechanisms and therapies; (2) TMJ pathogenesis; and (3) developmental biology, regeneration and tissue engineering of joint, muscle and ligaments. Where appropriate, embedded within each of these areas will be research and didactic experiences in contemporary methodologies, including bioinformatics, genomics, imaging and biomarkers. The Scholars will have a minimum of 75 percent protected time for research and research career development. An individualized career development plan will be customized with each scholar and their interdisciplinary research mentors and mentorship team. Each plan will include an intensive supervised research experience, didactic training including instruction and assistance in grant writing/submission and scientific writing, ongoing mentor feedback, formal annual evaluation, and instruction in the responsible conduct of research. The Scholars' mentoring teams, didactic coursework, and experiential learning will highlight the need to understand the entire translational continuum and the complex interplay between "peripheral" and "central" factors that contribute to complex chronic pain states. The training of interdisciplinary scholars under the mentorship of established investigators, including those working in related areas outside the field, will likely lead to novel discoveries and provide the needed momentum for innovations in the diagnostics and therapeutics for TMJD/OP. These include: 1) the ability to better "phenotype" these patients to identify sub-sets of individuals (i.e. endophenotypes) that respond to specific therapies; 2) th identification and use of local or systemic biomarkers to diagnose disease or monitor improvements in therapy; 3) the use of both "peripheral" and central nervous system, joint and muscle imaging technologies for earlier and more sensitive diagnostics; and 4) the use of biomedicine, biomimetics, and imaging to design and manufacture bioengineered joints. Collectively, this application offers a comprehensive and systems-based approach to training researchers in the TMJD/OP field.