Regenerative Musculoskeletal Medicine Training Program

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Project Summary Over the past ten years, we have established a training program focused on regenerative medicine as it relates to musculoskeletal disease. Projects undertaken by trainees have addressed mechanisms underlying musculoskeletal cell commitment and differentiation in development and disease, reconstitution of injured or missing musculoskeletal tissues with cells, scaffolds and bioactive molecules, use of bioinformatics to address musculoskeletal diseases and treatment, and strategies to combat implant infections. One of the most unique attributes of our program is the development of a training experience for orthopaedic surgery residents that enables them to complete a laboratory-based research project connected to a clinical/ translational extension of the project within the confines of the residency program. This led to the development of another unique aspect of our program, a mentoring team for both MD and PhD trainees comprised of an extramurally-funded basic or translational scientist, a funded clinician scientist and a practicing academic surgeon mentor. These new components have been highly successful, leading to substantially increased interest among faculty and trainees and increased interaction between MD and PhD trainees. We propose to expand from four trainee positions to five owing to a tripling in the number of qualified applicants applying to the program in the last three solicitations. The Chair of the UCLA Department of Orthopaedic Surgery has pledged funds to cover operational costs of this expansion and to enrich the overall training experience. Grounded in a pilot study performed in the current funding period, we propose to improve our evaluation of trainees and mentors by using quantifiable metrics around standardized survey-based instruments that track the longitudinal progress of training team members. Based on input from advisory boards and trainees, we diversified our training faculty to include expertise in health services/outcomes and engineering. Finally, with an eye on succession planning, we added a third MPI Nicholas Bernthal, MD, a young faculty member who has succeeded in establishing an extramurally-funded bench research program while maintaining a clinical practice. Our translational research structure is supported by a robust collection of didactic curricula and seminar series designed to introduce and refine the skills needed by postdoctoral trainees to understand, design, compose, undertake and earn extramural financial support for a research project in regenerative medicine. Increased focus will be placed on exposure of PhD trainees to highly relevant clinical challenges and exposure of surgeon scientists to basic research in the field of regenerative orthopaedic medicine. The T32 research and didactic training program is designed to provide individual trainees with 2-3 years of funding in preparation for their transition into more specialized training and to serve as a source of mentoring support that extends beyond their term of appointment to the T32.