Fellows will have access to the laboratory facilities and supportive collaborating researchers and technicians within the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix Department of Orthopaedics, Arizona State University and the Musculoskeletal Orthopaedic Research and Education (MORE) Foundation.
The Department of Orthopaedics has a research facility capable of bioassays and biomechanical experiments using a biaxial load frame (100 N tension, 50N/m torque) and a complete motion analysis laboratory. In addition to several pathology microscopes, there is also a surgical microscope available for fellows to practice microsurgical skills. The Department of Orthopaedics has a close collaborative relationship with several researchers in Biochemistry, Bioengineering and the Animal Laboratory at Arizona State University, which shares a five-lab open space, a cell culture room and an inverted brightfield microscope for histology and fluorescent studies.
The MORE Foundation has its own motion analysis lab, cadaveric lab and biomechanics lab. The MORE foundation will be tracking every fellow research project from inception to publication and lending assistance whenever feasible in terms of funding, experimental protocols and/or personnel. In addition to several post-doctorate researchers and technicians are available for assistance, clinical faculty participate in most basic science and clinical projects.
As a part of each rotation, the fellow will have a half-day per week set aside for participation in clinical or laboratory research. To make the best use of their limited time, there will be ongoing projects for the fellows to adopt, both from the Department of Orthopaedics at University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix and the MORE Foundation. If there is a specific project that interests a fellow, but is not currently underway, this interest will be identified early, and the IRB process will begin, perhaps even before the fellow matriculates. Every project will have collaborators involved, including clinical faculty, post-doctorate and masters-level researchers. These collaborators will mentor the fellows through the scientific process.
All research projects will be fully mentored from the time of initial project inception through the manuscript preparation and submission. A monthly research meeting is held between the program director, faculty, fellow and other collaborators involved in research projects to stay updated on regulatory issues, describe progress/status of projects and identify any potential problems. This information will be reported directly to the MORE Foundation Research Committee, who tracks and oversees all research projects. Instruction in experimental design and evaluation of the medical literature will also occur at the monthly journal club with all faculty present.
To further remove financial barriers and encourage scholar investigation, the MORE Foundations will reimburse fellows of all travel and meeting expenses associated with presenting their research projects at regional and national meetings.
Not only will fellows be required to complete at least one publishable research project in order to graduate, all research projects will be presented at the CORE Institute Annual Research Symposium at the end of the academic year.