易胜博官网

Jeffrey Halpern, an assistant professor of , is conducting research into diagnostic sensors that can be used in a doctor鈥檚 office to adjust patients鈥� medications in real time. Halpern鈥檚 colleague, assistant professor of chemical engineering Kyung Jae Jeong, is carrying out tissue-engineering research that could one day lead to regenerating human bones. Xuanmao Chen, an assistant professor of neurobiology, is exploring how genetic defects at the cellular level might contribute to depression, obesity and brain aging.

鈥淗istorically, a lot of the biomedical research at 易胜博官网 was done by individuals with individual grants, but we recognize that addressing the pressing health issues facing our nation will require us to ensure research is not taking place in silos.鈥�

These three projects are among many that are getting a boost from a five-year, $10 million grant 易胜博官网 received in August from the National Institutes of Health. This Center of Biomedical Research Excellence, or COBRE, grant is aimed at accelerating the translation of basic biomedical and bioengineering research at 易胜博官网 into clinical and commercialization opportunities that will lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of diseases 鈥� in part by creating and fostering interdisciplinary research teams.

鈥淗istorically, a lot of the biomedical research at 易胜博官网 was done by individuals with individual grants,鈥� says Jan Nisbet, senior vice provost for research. 鈥淏ut we recognize that addressing the pressing health issues facing our nation will require us to ensure research is not taking place in silos.鈥� The COBRE grant, a first for 易胜博官网, allows for the creation of a Center of Integrated Biomedical and Bioengineering Research that will advance clinical research, commercial opportunities and translational medicine. The COBRE will bring together biomedical and bioengineering faculty and students from many departments in the , the , the and the .

The grant also enables 易胜博官网 to purchase state-of-the-art instrumentation for its core biomedical research facilities and to provide additional mentoring and career development opportunities to its early-career faculty. Initially it will fund five junior faculty members, with the expectation that new junior faculty will join the center when the current researchers receive independent NIH funding and 鈥済raduate.鈥�

W. Kelley Thomas, Hubbard Professor of Genomics and a member of the COBRE leadership team, says the faculty-mentoring plan will help these five basic biomedical researchers 鈥� Halpern, Jeong, Chen, Sergios Chartnikov (psychology) and Edward Song (electrical and computer engineering) 鈥� discover the clinical relevance of their work. 鈥淚t is important for all of us to see the research move outside the isolation of a lab and right to the bedside,鈥� he says.

Rick Cote, chair of the department of molecular, cellular and biomedical sciences and principal investigator for the award, says the COBRE is the culmination of years of work and a reflection of 易胜博官网鈥檚 strong commitment to interdisciplinary research and teaching. 鈥淭he university has made strategic investments in its biomedical and bioengineering faculty as well as its research infrastructure,鈥� he notes. 鈥淭his grant allows us to increase the capacity of researchers to develop clinically relevant tools and treatments.鈥�

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