Research Introduction

As a small department, the graduate division places a premium on close relationships between studentsand their faculty mentors for guidance in development of new projects. The department normally hosts post-doctoral M.D. or Ph.D. investigators who are committed to related lines of investigation and who are valuable resources for students.

Research in the Department of Anatomy stresses the pathobiology of tissue repair and regeneration in connective tissue (especially bone and cartilage), nerve and the eye. Many of these studies are directed to developing modes of protection against injury, or finding ways that growth factors and cytokines can promote healing in experimental models. Biomedical projects, closely allied to problems encountered in the clinical setting, are enriched by collaborative work with the Departments of Orthopedic Surgery, Biochemistry and Ophthalmology and the Section of Rheumatology. Students are encouraged to perform research in cross-disciplinary areas to take advantage of opportunities in the medical environment at Rush to develop basic research problems with a disease orientation.

Faculty laboratories are located in the Academic Facility and in the Cohn Building, a new research building on campus. These laboratories support a variety of projects ranging in scope from cell and tissue culture work using molecular probes and biochemical methods to experimental surgery and studies on biomechanics and gait. Most faculty members collaborate not only with other researchers at Rush, but with investigators elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad.