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RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT:
A Transformation Through Partnership Between the Department of Dermatology and the Gates Center
The Department of Dermatology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has a 30 year history of excellence in biomedical research. Historically, this Department has been known for its research in Immunodermatology, supported by a highly successful National Institutes of Health (NIH) training grant for 30 years. Over the past 15 years, a strong research focus on melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer has been developed, as well. During the past eight years, however, the Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine has transformed research in the Department of Dermatology and in skin-diseases– related research at the University of Colorado. This transformation has occurred through six major inter-related initiatives:
1
2 Funding of a Skin Diseases Research Core Center Grant (SDRC) from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Skin Diseases (NIAMS) in September, 2009:
Dennis Roop’s first major funding success was his organization of an impressive application combining the leadership of three senior investigators in skin-related research: Drs. Roop, Norris and Richard Spritz. This SDRC combined the established collaborators in skin-disease-related research at the Anschutz Medical Campus with the new cadre of stem cell scientists recruited by Dr. Roop, and translational investigators involved in skin disease and cancer, for a total of 56 investigators. During the initial funding period, this SDRC was spectacularly successful in promoting and expanding skin-disease-related research on campus. Successful organization of collaborative research teams committed to this specialized research and use of SDRC funding led to the award of $20,371,611 in new research grants during the first four years of funding. To the delight of all, the SDRC grant was refunded for an additional five years in September, 2014.
Creation of a new research program in Regenerative Medicine
and Stem Cell Biology:
In 2007 Dennis Roop, PhD, was recruited from Baylor College of Medicine to head the Charles C. Gates Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology Program. Substantial funds from private philanthropy and from departments in the School of Medicine were used to recruit Dr. Roop and four other founding faculty members (Drs. Peter Koch, Maranke Koster, Jiang Chen and Neil Box) to the Department of Dermatology. Since that time, Dr. Roop has organized a spectacular program of fund raising, recruitment and program development that within three short years led to the elevation of the Program to Center status with a goal of rapidly bringing stem cell treatments to the clinic. Additional recruitments brought the research programs of Drs. Xiao-Jing Wang, Shi-Long Lu, Qinghong Zhang and Yosef Refaeli to the Gates Stem Cell Center and the Department of Dermatology.
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