PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island Hospital’s Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for Skeletal Health and Repair has won a $5.8 million, 5-year Phase III COBRE grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to support cartilage and joint disease research.
The center, led by principal investigator Qian Chen brings together researchers with the common goal of developing treatment for musculoskeletal diseases including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, bone tumors and genetic bone diseases.
“This funding for Phase III is the capstone on a decade of work,” said Chen. “We have achieved tremendous success in building our research capacity and funding eligibility in musculoskeletal diseases, and Phase III will allow us to transition the COBRE research infrastructure into a competitive, independent, and self-sustaining academic center of excellence over the next five years.”
The COBRE for Skeletal Health and Repair supports a multi-disciplinary approach to translational research, with clinicians, biologists and engineers all aiming to find practical applications that will bring benefits to patients in the near future. The center provides state-of-the-art core services in imaging, molecular biology, nanomedicine and bioengineering to biomedical investigators, and continued grant funding allows for investment in this laboratory infrastructure. In turn, these upgrades will enhance Lifespan’s commitment to nationally recognized medical research efforts.
“We are so pleased that this funding gives deserved recognition to the hard work of Dr. Chen and his team,” said Margaret M. Van Bree, president of Rhode Island Hospital. “Rhode Island Hospital and our sister hospitals in the Lifespan system are committed to delivering the best in clinical care, and simultaneously advancing medicine through our research. These COBRE funds allow us to drive that work forward.”
Collectively the COBRE has enabled musculoskeletal and joint research at Rhode Island Hospital along with Brown University to achieve prominence nationally and internationally. The Rhode Island Hospital COBRE for Skeletal Health and Repair holds the disctinction of having been funded in its first attempt for each of its three phases, Chen said, unusual in a competitive process that sometimes requires two or more submissions for each phase. The center was twice awarded $11 million – in 2007 and 2012 for Phases I and II, respectively.
Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.
