# Core-003: Functional Assessment Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $179,163

## Abstract

Michigan Integrative Musculoskeletal Health Core Center – Core D 
Project Summary 
Functional assessment of musculoskeletal phenotypes in animal models is critical to identifying 
mechanisms of how diseases affect the integrative health and function of patients suffering from 
various musculoskeletal conditions. The ability to study musculoskeletal phenotypes across a 
wide-ranging scale requires considerable expertise and highly specialized training in physiology, 
biophysics, and engineering, as well as access to costly, high-resolution, state-of-the-art 
equipment. While occasionally the expertise and equipment for single approaches can be 
developed in a single laboratory, developing these approaches can be cost prohibitive, 
redundant, and can lead to proliferation of non-uniform techniques across the field. The 
Functional Assessment Core (Core D) will bring together the animal, organ, tissue, and in 
some cases cellular level phenotyping capabilities currently used within individual laboratories at 
the University of Michigan into a cohesive and easily accessible core service that can be used 
by the entire musculoskeletal research community. Core D will integrate individual laboratory 
approaches to musculoskeletal biology and engineering by including state-of-the-art 
measurements in bone mechanics, muscle function and mechanics, and tendon mechanics. 
This will be implemented through prioritization of experiments for hypothesis-based testing, 
coordination of cross-core experiments, execution of high precision phenotyping studies, and 
collaboration among investigators within and external to the institution. Core D will also focus 
on expanding its offerings to both enhance the capabilities of the current Research Community 
and to further expand the breadth and depth of the Core Center. Four Aims are proposed: the 
Core will provide expertise and guidance on the design of experiments in Aim 1, and access in 
Aim 2 to state-of-the-art technologies and experts to allow quantification of animal, organ, and 
tissue function and to provide training in these methodologies. Further, in Aim 3, the Core will 
provide guidance with interpretation of results and make recommendations for future studies. 
Lastly, the overall goal of Aim 4 is to enable the research community through ongoing 
technology development and education. By providing the framework for testing samples, 
training investigators, and sharing resources, the Core will accomplish its goals of high level 
support for musculoskeletal phenotyping and the sharing of standard operating procedures 
among the greater musculoskeletal research community.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9984289
- **Project number:** 5P30AR069620-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Daniel E Michele
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $179,163
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-08-01 → 2021-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9984289

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9984289, Core-003: Functional Assessment Core (5P30AR069620-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9984289. Licensed CC0.

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