Rochester Resource-Based Center for Bone, Muscle and Orthopaedic Research (ROCSTARR) (Overall Application)

This is a proposal to sustain the University of Rochester Resource-based Center for Bone, Muscle and Orthopaedic Research (ROCSTARR) Program. ROCSTARR is comprised of an Administrative Core that will run the Enrichment Program, and will coordinate and integrate the Histology, Biochemistry and Molecular

Imaging (HBMI) and the Biomechanics, Biomaterials and Multimodal Tissue Imaging (B2MTI) Cores, in order to ensure progress of the overall ROCSTARR in an efficient manner. The Core Users Committees, the URMC Shared Resource Laboratories & Facilities, and the meeting structure of the Administrative Core are key

elements that organize communication and collaboration among the ROCSTARR investigators, as well as with other faculty in the Center for Musculoskeletal Research (CMSR) and collaborating Departments and Centers within the University. The Specific Aims of the ROCSTARR are: 1) To maintain state-of-the-art resource-

based Cores for basic science, translational and clinical musculoskeletal research; and utilize these resources in a cost-effective manner to accelerate the pace of discovery and clinical translation. 2) To continue to foster our highly collaborative environment that serves as a model for translation of basic research to clinical trials,

and expands our outreach activities that promote the use of the resources offered by the Core to new external collaborations with the aim of growing our musculoskeletal research base at URMC, nationally and internationally. 3) To: i) maintain our exceptional 42-fold return on investment from Pilot Grants awarded to

New/Early Stage Investigators (N/ESI), ii) commence utilization of a new Discovery Fund created with small endowments for research in the prior funding period, and grow it via targeted philanthropy, and iii) sustain our renowned academic Enrichment Programs including the William F. Neuman Visiting Professor series and the

Annual Musculoskeletal Research Symposium. 4) To maintain our Sub-Cores that administer: i) human subject research services in concert with the Clinical-Translational Research Institute, ii) biostatistics, computer programing and outcome research resources to grow collaborative networks in Big Data science, surgical

outcomes and population health research, and iii) provide new resources for muscle and exercise biology research in animal models and human subjects. And, 5) to expand our highly successful Mentoring Program, which facilitates the advancement of our N/ESIs to NIH R01 funded PIs with national leadership status, and

implements the highest standards of scientific rigor in response to NIH’s plan to enhance reproducibility. Thus, building on our remarkable successes during the prior funding period, this P30 Core Center proposes to continue its mission “To advance our faculty members to independence, establishing them as national leaders

and the most desirable faculty in their field by the top academic programs in the country, upon which the ultimate success of this Core Program will be judged.”