Michigan Integrative Musculoskeletal Health Core Center (Overall Application)

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Michigan Integrative Musculoskeletal Health Core Center - Overview Project Summary Musculoskeletal disorders remain an enormous public healthcare problem, accounting for more than fifty percent of chronic conditions in developed countries. The current financial landscape not only challenges investigator- led scientific programs, but particularly threatens collaborative research because lack of flexibility in individual budgets restricts resources and ability to share valuable techniques with our scientific neighbors. The Michigan Integrative Musculoskeletal Health Core Center (MiMHC) enables vertically integrated, multi-scale musculoskeletal science from molecular and omic-level mechanisms to organismal function and clinical outcomes by increasing access to critical, specialized resources and expertise that are fundamental to the musculoskeletal research programs of 90 Center investigators. The MiMHC is structured to be consistent with initiatives at the University of Michigan aimed at promoting collaborations across disciplines and between basic scientists and clinicians to promote health by better understanding disease and injury mechanisms. The MiMHC not only enhances the capabilities of a group of outstanding musculoskeletal researchers but also leverages their collective talent through an Enrichment Program that promotes novel and emerging musculoskeletal research in cross-tissue interactions and sex-specific differences throughout the life course. An outreach program creates a rich community of musculoskeletal scientists through a novel monthly seminar series that builds on existing momentum toward accelerating discussion, critical thinking, research rigor and reproducibility, and innovation. To accomplish these goals, an Administrative Core will oversee core operations and three Resource Cores to provide Structure, Composition, and Histology services, Functional assessment services, and Integrative Data Analytics services to all members of the MiMHC research community. The Resource Cores are structured to facilitate hierarchically mechanistic studies from the molecular and omic-levels through the organ-level and to the clinical setting. Access to the Resource Cores has been and will continue to be financially and scientifically impactful to Center investigators by centralizing core technologies and by providing access to Core Directors who are experts in their field and who will provide guidance on the best choice of technologies, experimental design, and data interpretation. The UM environment is ideal for continuing to build a strong research community and to sustain an innovative, collaborative venture aimed at advancing understanding of musculoskeletal health and disease and to conduct science highly relevant to the NIAMS mission.