New research effort to translate basic science into faster bone healing

New research effort to translate basic science into faster bone healing

Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center have received a $7.8 million grant to speed the conversion of basic bone science into new treatments that prevent arthritis, improve fracture healing and save limbs. In one case, the research aims to confirm preliminary findings that a handful of patients, previously confined to wheelchairs by fractures that would not heal, were able to walk again after receiving a drug treatment that finally healed the bone.
The award is the first of its kind, a Center of Research Translation (CORT) grant in orthopaedics from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. It is part of a larger effort by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fast-track basic scientific findings into meaningful clinical treatments (translational research). With this latest grant, the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the Medical Center becomes the best funded of its kind in the nation in terms of NIH research dollars, according to a new ranking for the most recent NIH fiscal year.