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THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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KC area schools to team up for disease research
ALLISON CRIST
@AllisonCristUDK
Three Kansas City schools will partner in a research consortium that will focus on musculoskeletal disorders and diseases.
The KU Medical Center, the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCUMB) and the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) will work collaboratively to form teams of investigators on different levels: basic, translational and researchers.
Lynda Bonewald, one of the three executive leaders and vice chancellor for translational and clinical research, said forming these teams will allow for people to
work on a smaller scale, while still coming together with the entire consortium.
"We started talking about this collaboration two years ago," Bonewald said. "It's been fun coming up with ideas and preparing this large group to make a substantial mark on research."
research. Although Bonewald has been wanting to collaborate for awhile now, it wasn't until KCUMB hosted a reception and panel discussion Feb. 11 that a discussion was prompted between the three schools.
Bonewald said this collaboration will give the three schools a better chance at getting funding for the research.
Bonewald, along with the other executive leaders,
Richard Barohn, vice chancellor for research at the University, and Jeffrey Joyce, vice president for research at KCUMB, will begin with formal meetings every month or two to discuss current projects and begin planning the grant requests they will have to submit.
"We want to see how we can work together and show that we can indeed pull off this complicated research project so we can submit requests for funding." Barohn said.
The group is specifically looking for a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Students from the three schools will be able to be involved as well.
"The NIH can be tough to get funding from, but we think we have an advantage because the request won't be coming
from just one school, but a combination of three;" Barohn said.
"We encourage med students to join," Barohn said. "If we get the funding we need, we might even be able to generate a program to train students in the areas we are focusing on."
Zach Machi is in his last year of school at KU Med and although he won't be able to participate in the consortium due to graduation, he has worked with Barohn for the past two and a half years.
"I worked with Dr. Barohn as a part of the neuromuscular research group at KU Medical Center," Machi said, "A big part of that time was
dedicated to clinical trials with ALS patients. We were really interested in looking at blood markers that tell us if a particular drug is working the way we hypothesized."
Students involved would do similar work as Machi with the first project for the consortium focusing on ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
"Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences has been successful in recruiting lab workers and KU has already been running some trials to find a drug to slow the disease down, so this combination alone should produce positive results," Barohn said.
Barohn said the consortium will also look at bone diseases like osteoporosis.
Working closely with this
project will be Marco Brotto from the School of Nursing and Health at UMKC.
"This consortium is so interesting because oftentimes groups that combine are made up of people with tremendous expertise in just one area but with us, we are combining people who are bright in many areas," Brotto said.
the focus on musculoskeletal disease is important, and more people should be aware of how common it is, since 1.7 billion people were affected by it in some way in 2012, Brotto said.
Brotto said one of the benefits of the consortium will allow researchers to look at these diseases more closely.
Edited by Samantha Darling and Laura Kubicki
WASHINGTON —The Associated Press on Wednesday sued the State Department to force the release of email correspondence and government documents from Hillary Rodham Clinton's tenure as secretary of state.
The legal action follows repeated requests filed under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act that have gone unfulfilled. They include one request the AP made five years ago and others pending since the summer of 2013.
The Associated Press sues State Department to force release of Hillary Rodham Clinton records
The suit in U.S. District Court comes a day after Clinton broke her silence about her use of a private email account while she was America's top diplomat.
the FOIA requests and the suit seek materials related to her public and private calendars; correspondence involving aides likely to play important roles
in her expected campaign for president; and Clinton-related emails about the Osama bin Laden raid and National Security Agency surveillance practices.
documents, which will shed light on actions by the State Department and former Secretary Clinton, a presumptive 2016 presidential candidate, during some of the most significant issues of our time," said Karen Kaiser, AP's general counsel.
"After careful deliberation and exhausting our other options, The Associated Press is taking the necessary legal steps to gain access to these important
- Associated Press
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks to the reporters at United Nations headquarters. The Associated Press filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the State Department to force the release of email correspondence and government documents from Hillary Rodham Clinton's tenure as secretary of state.
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