History
Shortly after forming the charity and its board of directors, the Children’s Brittle Bone Foundation formed a Medical Advisory Board consisting of highly renown doctors, with backgrounds in research and grant writing. These doctors set a strategy for the use of our funds and ran a grant review process modeled after and using the best practices of the NIH grant award systems.
Between 1994-2002, the CBBF directly funded research grants and fellowships. By investing $6,000,000+ into OI research, the CBBF made Osteogenesis Imperfecta a promising field for North America’s most talented research scientists.
Additionally, we testified in front of the House Ways and Means Committee and were instrumental in getting the National Institute of Health to provide a five-year research stipend of $12.5 Million.
Below are examples of Research Grants and Fellowships we awarded:
OI – Treatment Challenge
(This award is $100,000/year for three years)
(3) Dr. Darwin J. Prockop, MD. Ph.D – Director Center For Gene Therapy MCP Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, PA. for “Expansion of Stem cells from patients with OI for potential therapy of the Same patients”…2000-2002
(2) Dr. Barbara M. Brodsky from UMDNJ – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Jersey for “Peptide Models of Collagen O.I. Mutation Sites: The Effect of Amino Acid Sequence On Triple Helix Properties and Clinical Phenotype”…1998-2000
(1) Dr. Richard J. Wenstrup from The Children’s Hospital Research Foundation in Cincinnati, Ohio for the “Use Of Hammerhead Ribozymes In an Animal Model Of Osteogenesis Imperfecta”…1998-2000
Fellowship
(This award is $50,000/year for two years)
(12) Christopher B. Ballas Ph.D.: Mentor Stanton L Gerson, MD Division of Hematology/Oncology Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. Cleveland OH for “Transplantation Biology of Murine Bone Marrow Stroma”…2000-2002
(11) Christine D. Kulich, Ph.D.: Mentor Nelson Fausto. Research Scientist Department of Pathology. University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle Washington for “The order of intron removal in type I collagen genes: the role of splice order on the outcome of splice site mutations.”…2000-2002
(10) Dr. David G. Stokes from Allegheny University of the Health Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the “Development of a Gene Therapy Strategy for OI and Characterization of Marrow Stromal Cells as the Therapeutic Vehicle”…1998-2000
(9) Dr. Robert Daniel Blank from The Hospital For Special Surgery in New York, New York working on “Modifiers of OIM: Mapping of Genes Affecting Bone Strength in Mice”…1998-2000
(8) Dr. Donna King from Finch University of Health Sciences/ The Chicago Medical school in Chicago, Illinois For “Gene Therapy To Reverse Bone Loss in OI”…1997-1999.
(7) Dr. Nancy P. Camacho from The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, New York for the “Effect of a Third Generation Bisphosphonate on Bone Properties in the Growing OIM Mouse”…1996-1998.
(6) Dr. Jeanne Marie Boudreaux from the Washington University School Of Medicine in St. Louse, Missouri Working on “Fibroblast Growth Factor-Specific Transcriptional Regulation & The Molecular Biochemistry of Osteoblast Gene Expression”… 1996-19998
(5) Dr. Daniel McBride from John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland Working on “Bone Marrow Transplantation in OIM Mice: A Tool To Study Somatic Gene Therapy”…1995-1997.
(4) Dr. Jerome Andre Rossert from The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas Working on the “Study of the Lineage – Specific Transcriptional Mechanisms Which Control Type I Collagen Synthesis in Osteoblasts”…1995-1997.
(3) Dr. Ruth Pereira from Hahnemann University Center for Gene Therapy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Working on “Transgenic Mouse Models Used to Explore Marrow Stromal Cell Therapy in the Treatment of Osteogenesis Imperfecta”…1995-1997.
(2) Dr. William Ross Wilcox from Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California Working on “collagen Stability in Osteogenesis Imperfecta”…1994-1996.
(1) Dr. Ming Qui from The University of Washington In Seattle, Washington for “The Identification and Characterization of Proteins that Bind Abnormal Type I Procollagen Molecules”… 1994-1996.