New York, NY—June 8, 2004
Hospital for Special Surgery announced that for the first third of 2004, 11 of its scientists received federal and foundation grants totaling more than $1,378,499. The awards will help fund basic and clinical research activities. Drs. Xiahong Bi, Adele Boskey, Christopher Chen, Mary Crow, Alejandro Gonzalez Della Valle, Chisa Hidaka, Xiaoyu Hu, Suzanne Maher, Elizabeth Myers, Luminata Pricop and Wei Zhu are the principal investigators for these grants.
According to Dr. Francesco Ramirez, Chief Scientific Officer of the Hospital, "These grants not only foster and support our campaign for research, but I am confident will lead to unprecedented advances in the treatment of musculoskeletal problems."
Dr. Xiahong Bi, Post doctorate fellow, received a 1-year grant of $50,000 from MacArthur Foundation to validate the use of clinical MR imaging to identify early-stage articular cartilage degeneration.
Dr. Adele Boskey, Director of the Mineralized Tissue Laboratory, in collaboration with Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, received a 4-year grant of $204,320 from the National Institutes of Health to study focal adhesion kinase and stem cell differentiation.
Dr. Christopher Chen, Assistant Member of the Research Division, received a 1-year grant of $49,989 from the Arthritis Research Foundation to study the roles of TIMP-1 in cartilage degradation and repair after load-induced injury.
Dr. Mary Crow, Director of Rheumatology Research and Autoimmunity and Inflammation Program, received a 3-year grant of $225,000 from the Lupus Research Institute to study biomarkers of disease flare in lupus.
Dr. Alejandro González Della Valle, Orthopedic Fellow, received a 1-year grant of $50,000 from the Orthopedic Research & Education Foundation and Zimmer to study the utility and precision of standard and computerized preoperative planning for primary total hip replacements.
Dr. Chisa Hidaka, Assistant Member of the Research Division, received a 3-year grant from the National Institutes of Health for $255,000 to study how the sub-population of cartilage cells at the joint surface can improve cartilage healing.
Dr. Xiaoyu Hu, Post doctorate Fellow, received a 1-year grant of $50,000 to study the regulation of osteoclastogenesis and osteolysis.
Dr. Suzanne Maher, Assistant Member of the Research Division, received a 1-year grant of $50,000 from the MacArthur Foundation to explore ways to help integrate implants into cartilage defects. The approach being investigated will ideally help to stabilize the propagation of damage from cartilage defects, thereby impeding the onset of osteoarthritis.
Dr. Elizabeth Myers, Associate Member of the Research Division, received a 1-year NIH grant of $119,190 to purchase a high performance mechanical testing system. This instrument can measure forces lower than one-thousandth of a pound and distances much smaller than the width of a human hair. Our researchers will use this system in their studies of models of orthopaedic diseases.
Dr. Luminata Pricop, Associate Member in the Autoimmunity and Inflammation Research Program, received a 3-year grant of $225,000 from the Lupus Research Institute to study genetic and acquired modifiers of APC function in lupus.
Dr. Wei Zhu, Research Fellow, received a 2-year grant of $100,000 from the Orthopedic Research & Education Foundation for the study of BMP2/7 functions on human bone cells.
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