PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island Hospital has been awarded $11.1 million by the National Center for Research Resources, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to study the prevention and treatment of joint diseases.

The five-year grant is the largest in the hospital’s history. It will be used to create a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) for Skeletal Health and Repair at Rhode Island Hospital and establish a multidisciplinary team of scientists from the hospital and its academic partner, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

“In this highly competitive research environment, we are honored that the NIH has again recognized Rhode Island Hospital as an institution with the talent, expertise and innovative spirit to conduct world-class, pioneering research in the area of orthopedics,” George A. Vecchione, the hospital’s interim president and CEO, and the president and CEO of the Lifespan health-care network, said in a statement.

The COBRE program aims to enhance research infrastructure and strengthen biomedical research abilities at existing institutions. Rhode Island Hospital has received one other COBRE grant, in 2002, which it used to establish the state’s first Center for Cancer Research Development. Brown, one of the first universities nationwide to establish a COBRE, used its first grant in 2000 grant to build Rhode Island’s first genomics facility; it received a second grant in 2005, to support genomics-based research into how cancer develops and spreads.

The NIH program has brought the state more than $60 million in federal research funding since 2000, including 2003 COBRE grants to Roger Williams Medical Center and Women & Infants’ Hospital. (READ MORE)

The new facility will focus on cartilage and joint health, disease mechanisms and repair strategies, said center director and principal investigator Qian Chen, who also is the director of cell and molecular biology and head of orthopedic biology at Rhode Island Hospital and a professor of medical science at Brown Medical School, where he holds the Michael G. Ehrlich Chair in Orthopedic Research.

“The aging of the baby boom generation and soaring obesity rates mean we can expect to see a sharp increase in the number of patients with osteoarthritis and other joint diseases,” Chen said in a statement. “That’s why it’s critical that we not only expand our search for new and better treatments for joint diseases, but that we also recruit and mentor the next generation of orthopedic researchers – which our COBRE award allows us to do.”

His team will include researchers from the orthopedics, emergency medicine, pediatrics, medicine and bioengineering departments at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown.

“The creation of a multidisciplinary research center will enable investigators from across different disciplines – including those with clinical, biological and engineering expertise – to collaborate on cutting-edge research,” said Dr. Michael Ehrlich, surgeon-in-chief of orthopedics at Rhode Island Hospital and chairman of the department of orthopedics and rehabilitation at Brown Medical School.

“This approach exemplifies translational research at its best and will spur discovery to more quickly bring cures and treatments to patients who need them,” said Louise Ramm, the NCRR’s deputy director.

Rhode Island Hospital, a private nonprofit institution founded in 1863, is a founding member of the Lifespan health system. Additional information is available at www.rhodeislandhospital.org.