Center for Metabolic Bone Disease (University-Wide Interdisciplinary Research Center)

Director: Jay M. McDonald, MD

Established: 1996

Mission and Demographics

The Center for Metabolic Bone Disease (CMBD) was established to provide a broad-based multidisciplinary research, training, and service center focused on metabolic bone disease. It has a general mission to support, catalyze, and integrate clinical activities, clinical and translational research, basic research, and education. The Center currently has 97 appointed faculty representing 28 departments and 9 schools at UAB.

Center Research

Programs and Support:

BASIC RESEARCH
§ Basic bone biology § Biomaterials, biomechanics and biomedical engineering § Implant retrieval and analysis § Mechanisms of bone metastases
CLINICAL RESEARCH
§ Relationship between periodontitis and bone loss § Outcomes research § Drug trials § Regenerative medicine
TRAINING
§ Faculty research pilot projects and a comprehensive bone NIH T32 institutional training grant for pre- and postdoctoral fellows
DIRECT SERVICE
§ Osteoporosis “Tone Your Bones Hotline” and other public and professional awareness activities § Core facilities for animal bone phenotyping, genetic mouse service, histomorphometry and clinical trials
MAJOR FUNDING SOURCES	MAJOR COLLABORATING
§ Department of Defense § National Institutes of Health: National Cancer Institute (NCI); National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS); National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR); National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) § National Science Foundation § Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) § UAB University-Wide Research Center § Veterans Administration § Amgen, Merck, Procter & Gamble, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, Sankyo	ORGANIZATIONS/AGENCIES § Alabama Department of Public Health

The Center is one of 17 University-wide centers at UAB. It is also supported by a P30 Research Core Center (RCC) grant from NIAMS, one of only five bone disease RCC’s in the United States. The goal of the NIH-funded program is to use a coordinated interdisciplinary approach to identify and characterize the key mechanisms underlying bone loss and regeneration and the systemic and local factors that regulate these processes as a basis for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies. The primary disease focus is osteoporosis, but the effectiveness of the program is enhanced by the inclusion of investigators with expertise in periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and bioengineering. Investigators have special expertise in cell differentiation and function, cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, and growth factor and hormonal regulation of bone cells.

The CMBD Research Cores are essential to the success of this dynamic program: 1) a Genetic Mouse Service Core which produces mouse models that provide a mammalian system to study the pathophysiology of bone disease and the efficacy of potential treatment interventions; 2) a Histomorphometry and Molecular Analyses Core provides state-of-the-art histological, histomorphometric, and highly sensitive cellular and tissue molecular probe techniques; and 3) a Small Animal Bone Phenotyping Core provides measurements of bone mineral density and content and state-of-the-art micro-CT analyses in a variety of animal models. Also available in this core is a Small Animal X-Ray Facility which provides high resolution radiographs to assist in identifying sclerotic or osteolytic bone metastatic lesions in mouse models. In addition, there is a comprehensive Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment Clinic, DEXA database, and clinical research program.

Training Activities

Funded by NIAMS, a T32 institutional training grant provides three slots each in pre-and post-doctoral training. The postdoctoral fellows may be focused on either basic or clinical research.

For additional information:

Administrative Associate: Marsha Moore

Email: cmbd@uab.edu

Phone: 205-934-6666

Approved by: Jay M. McDonald, M.D.

Robert and Ruth Anderson Professor and Chair, Department of Pathology

Director, Center for Metabolic Bone Disease

Editor-In-Chief, The American Journal of Pathology

Date: April 3, 2008

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