WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Susan Collins, Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and Angus King announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded a $234,157 grant to Maine Medical Center to support innovative bone cell research at the center’s Research Institute that could have significant implications for the treatment of osteoporosis, the most common form of bone disease.

“Maine is one of the oldest states in the country and our seniors face a number of health challenges, including the prevalent bone disease osteoporosis,” said Senators King and Collins in a joint statement. “The advancements we’re seeing from research conducted right here in Maine could be crucial to developing treatments for those suffering from the everyday complications of this sometimes very debilitating disease. This funding will support new research at Maine Medical Center that could further our understanding of bone growth and potential osteoporosis treatments.”

Ongoing research at the Maine Medical Center’s Research Institute (MMCRI) uses new tools to study how bone cells use fuel to make bones. This grant will enable researchers to further efforts to understand when bone cells use fat for energy, when they use sugar for energy, and how the process could be modified to cause bone growth. The goal is to find a way of turning fat cells into bone cells, which would be a breakthrough for the treatment of osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis is a degenerative bone disease that causes bones to become weak and brittle. The most common complications from the disease are bone fractures, especially in older adults.

The grant funding for MMCRI research initiative has been awarded through the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, one of the 27 institutes that combine to form the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.

MMCRI research is fully supported by NIH grants.  Dr. Clifford Rosen is coordinating this bone cell research effort at MMCRI.

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