# HEALing LB3P: Profiling Biomechanical, Biological and Behavioral phenotypes

> **NIH NIH U19** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2020 · $462,749

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The purpose of the University of Pittsburgh Low Back Pain: Biological, Biomechanical, Behavioral Phenotypes
(LB3P) Mechanistic Research Center is to perform in-depth phenotyping of patients with chronic low back pain
(CLBP), using a multi-modal approach, to characterize patients and provide insight into the phenotypes
associated with experience of CLBP to direct targeted and improved treatments. This new center will uniquely
address the critical challenge facing care for patients with CLBP, which is the rising costs of care related to
failed treatments, and resultant loss of quality of life and function with increasing reliance on opioid use resulting
from our inability to properly select patients for properly targeted treatments with a high likelihood of
success. The LB3P MRC will be formed of three Research Cores, which will be primarily responsible for data
collection and analysis of the three key contributors to CLBP (Biological, Biomechanical, and Behavioral);
three support cores primarily responsible for data organization, processing, storage and dissemination, including
interactions with the BACPAC (Administrative, Clinical, and Informatics); and one Research Project (deep
phenotyping of CLBP patient characteristics and response to treatments), serving to leverage all of the services
and products of the individual cores into the development of a unique clinical set of phenotypes associated with
response to treatment to guide properly targeted, individualized future care models for CLBP. This approach
will leverage and integrate distinctive resources at the University of Pittsburgh laboratories to deliver quantified
biomechanical, biological, and behavioral characteristics, functional assessments and patient-reported
outcomes, coupled with advanced data analytics using a novel Network Phenotyping Strategy (NPS). A
comprehensive and integrated biopsychosocial approach will be employed, which is necessary to improve
treatment for this complex and multi-dimensional condition. It is critical that the interaction of individual
variables is maintained in any phenotyping strategy, since in the syndrome of CLBP there is significant
interaction of each contributor, and this is an important strength of the proposed approach. The formation of this
center will build upon existing strengths within the University of Pittsburgh research community and focus efforts
around the critical challenge of CLBP, and the collaborative approach will serve as an important resource for the
BACPAC community. The LB3P MRC will coordinate the interdisciplinary expertise of clinicians and researchers
to study the contributors and predictors of CLBP, and to propose a culminating research project that promises
to translate the findings to clinical utilization and change the paradigm of care for CLBP. The proposed approach,
by eliminating isolated and disconnected approaches to treatment, and instead focusing on personalized patient-
centric approaches, will yield im...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10765809
- **Project number:** 4U19AR076725-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Charity G Patterson (Moore)
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $462,749
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2019-09-26 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10765809

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10765809, HEALing LB3P: Profiling Biomechanical, Biological and Behavioral phenotypes (4U19AR076725-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10765809. Licensed CC0.

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