$11 million grant creates center for musculoskeletal research at Clemson
Mollie R. Simon
Clemson University is looking to take a lead on research that might benefit patients with arthritis, osteoporosis and other bone and joint disorders.
The university wants to become a hub for the biomedical device industry.
During the quarterly Board of Trustees meeting, Tanju Karanfil, Clemson's vice president for research, announced an $11 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The grant is part of the Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence program, which was founded in 1993 to ensure that funding gets distributed more evenly across states which have historically had low levels of NIH support.
The $11 million initial funding, which could go up to $30 million across 15 years, will create the South Carolina Center for Translational Research Improving Musculoskeletal Health, abbreviated as SC-TRIMH.
Hai Yao, a Clemson professor, will lead the project, which includes collaborations with the Greenville Health System and the Medical University of South Carolina.
Kathleen Brady, vice president of research at MUSC, noted that there is a long history of collaboration between the groups.
"We've had a number of bright milestones along the way and this is one of the best," she said.
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The main innovation from SC-TRIMH is using "virtual human trials" to expedite the process from concept development to human testing on procedures like knee transplants, Yao said.
By using computational modeling to see how interventions will perform in the real world for specific patients, Yao hopes to be able to test products virtually. Currently, the time to move ideas from animal testing to human testing is long and a product may not perform as desired.
Scott Sasser, chief clinical officer for the western region of the Greenville Health System, said the novel methods Yao's team will use can help address rising health costs with more targeted solutions.
"This program to me exemplifies the heartbeat of what we mean with translational research," he said.
He described "translational research" as the process of bringing science to patient bedsides to improve their outcomes.
SC-TRIMH will include a multidisciplinary team covering physics, computing, public health and medicine.
The grant represents Clemson's third Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence project. The others were awarded in 2009 and 2016. There are three phases to the awards, so Yao and his multidisciplinary team will be able to apply for additional grants in the future.