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NIH T32 Training Grant in Joint Health

The NIH T32 Training Grant in Joint Health supports post-doctoral fellowships and short-term medical student research. The grant is directed by Rick Sumner, PhD and co-directed by Markus Wimmer, PhD and Anne-Marie Malfait, MD, PhD.

 

Overview

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This multi-disciplinary post-doctoral training program in musculoskeletal biology emphasizes research training in joint health, encompassing five major programmatic areas: osteoarthritis and cartilage, total joint replacement, bone disease and regeneration, spine degeneration and small molecule therapeutics. The program supports pre-doctoral PhD students, post-doctoral fellows and provides 3-month research experiences for medical students. For the post-doctoral positions, we encourage candidates with medical, dental or veterinary doctorates to apply in addition to those with PhD’s.

Training takes place in the laboratories of NIH funded faculty in three basic science departments (Anatomy & Cell Biology, Microbial Pathogens & Immunology, and Physiology & Biophysics) and four clinical departments (Internal MedicineOrthopedic Surgery, Pediatrics and the RUSH Alzheimer’s Disease Center). The faculty are internationally respected scientists and physician-scientists devoted to musculoskeletal research, with a special focus on osteoarthritis (including pain), cartilage and bone biology, total joint replacement, spine degeneration and muscle physiology. Trainees have many resources available including the T32/P30 Joint Seminar Series, which features internationally renowned scholars.

After completing our program, post-doctoral trainees are better positioned to becoming independent, team-oriented, principal investigators and doctoral graduates are well-suited for their next step, be it a post-doctoral fellowship or position in industry. Short-term medical student trainees are better positioned for seeking residencies.

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Mentors

Preceptor Research Interest
Fill, Michael, PhD  (Lab) Intracellular Ca signaling and arrhythmias
Hallab, Nadim James, PhD  (Lab) Immune responses to implant wear debris; implant debris analyses
Jacobs, Joshua, MD  (Lab) Biocompatibility of implant materials; joint replacement
Lundberg, Hannah, PhD  (Lab) Computational modeling of human joint biomechanics
Malfait, Anne-Marie, MD, PhD  (Lab) OA and pain
Martin, John, PhD  (Lab) Spine degeneration, regeneration and function
Miller, Rachel, PhD  (Lab) Osteoarthritis, pain, biomechanics
Pourzal, Robin, PhD  (Lab) Implant materials
Pratap, Jitesh, PhD  (Lab) Osteoblast differentiation and cancer cell survival in the bone microenvironment
Ross, Ryan, PhD  (Lab) PhD Bone quality, hormonal role of the skeleton
Samartzis, Dino, PhD  (Lab) Spine degeneration and pain
Shafikhani, Sasha, PhD  (Lab) Wound healing; infection; innate immunity; cancer
Spagnoli, Anna, MD  (Lab) Bone repair
Sumner, D. Rick, PhD  (Lab) Bone regeneration, implant fixation
Wimmer, Markus, PhD  (Lab) Tribology, motion analysis, cartilage, joint replacement

 

Co-Preceptor Research Interest
Al-Harthi, Lena, PhD  (Lab) HIV and HIV latency
Barker, Edward, PhD  (Lab) HIV innate immunity
Buchman, Aron, MD  (Lab) Neurobiology underlying age-related cognitive and motor decline
Inoue, Nozomu, MD, PhD  (Lab) Spine biomechanics
Keshavarzian, Ali, MD  (Lab) Gut microbiome and permeability
Ko, Frank, PhD  (Lab) Bone regeneration
Maki, Carl, PhD  (Lab) Cancer therapy resistance
Patel, Aloka, MD  (Lab) Nutrition and growth of preterm infants
Plaas, Anna, PhD  (Lab) Connective tissue pathobiology
Schneider, Jeffrey, PhD  (Lab) Infection response, HIV and cART
Yanke, Adam, MD, PhD  (Lab) Cartilage regeneration and repair

 

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