Expanding convergent research: Ohio State’s team science ecosystem

The clinicians, researchers and learners who focus on translational and foundational science at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center are part of an ecosystem of team science. Their relentless dedication to improvement and discovery has grown the college’s total research funding to $477.3 million in FY24, bolstered by multimillion-dollar grants to study traumatic brain injury, gene therapy and many other breakthrough research projects.

Carol R. Bradford, MD, MS, FACS, dean of the College of Medicine, credits part of the increase in funding – more than 13% over FY23 – to an ever-increasing focus on interdisciplinary collaboration. She says these ongoing efforts are uncovering timely and much-needed solutions to evolving health care challenges.

“We are uniquely positioned for collaboration and team science,” Dr. Bradford says. “The College of Medicine is part of one of the nation’s top academic medical centers working to advance research that transforms lives in our community and beyond, which is a critical piece of our tripartite mission.”

As executive vice president for Research, Innovation and Knowledge at The Ohio State University and chief scientific officer of the Ohio State College of Medicine and Wexner Medical Center, Peter Mohler, PhD, plays a key role in expanding cutting-edge research, stimulating entrepreneurship and building strategic partnerships.

“We are very pleased with the recognition we received earlier this year as one of the top 16 medical schools for research” says Dr. Mohler, referencing the 2024-25 U.S. News & World Report Best Medical Schools list. “We are even more pleased to continue collaborating with our partners and stakeholders to expand our research efforts and amplify their impacts.”

Continue reading to learn more about recent research highlights at the College of Medicine.

Expanding research: Bone marrow could be the key to rejuvenating damaged nerve cells

A team of scientists looking into converting human cells into a toolkit for cell therapy comprises Benjamin Segal, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Neurology; Andrew Jerome, PhD, a member or Dr. Segal’s research team; and Andrew Sas, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Neurology. Using a cocktail of molecules, the team found that bone marrow cells not only help preserve damaged cells but also regrow nerve fibers.

Dr. Segal and his team successfully replicated this finding from their animal research in human cells – tripling the survival rate of damaged human nerve cells.

“This finding could have a huge impact on nerve cell treatments, not only slowing the progression of neurological disorders but potentially reversing damage that has already been done,” Dr. Segal says.“

The next steps for research on this type of therapy will be to start human clinical trials, helping restore nerve cells in patients with devastating injuries.

“With the success of these lab experiments, our focus now shifts to bringing these new cell therapy treatments to the patients who need them,” Dr. Sas says. “We believe these cells can be extracted from a patient, stimulated and grown to large numbers in the lab and reinfused at the site of injury or disease to regrow brain and spinal nerve fibers.”

Fibroblast nanocarriers repair damaged spine disc in mice research

A recent breakthrough in the multidisciplinary Higuita-Castro Nano-Medicine Lab found that naturally derived nanocarriers could repair damaged discs in the spine and significantly relieve back pain. Roughly 40% of low-back pain is due to degeneration of intervertebral discs that provide flexibility and absorb shocks for the spine. While doctors can trim out tissue to alleviate pain for patients, the disc itself remains damaged and only continues to degrade.

The Higuita-Castro lab is led by Natalia Higuita-Castro, PhD, associate professor of Neurological Surgery at the College of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at Ohio State and collaborator Devina Purmessur Walter, PhD, also an associate professor of Biomedical Engineering. Through NIH funding, they were able to engineer nanocarriers using fibroblasts (connective-tissue cells) enriched with genetic material for tissue development via protein expression in mouse studies. After just 12 weeks, the mice treated with these nanocarriers had restored structural integrity and function in their discs, along with a significant reduction in their pain-related behaviors, suggesting that with more research, gene therapy could replace opioid treatment.

Mouse study shows promising spinal cord regrowth after injury

After suffering an injury to the spinal cord, individuals may develop dysautonomia, a mostly harmless condition on its own that can, unfortunately, lead to the development of symptoms such as full bladder, immune system suppression and uncontrolled changes in blood pressure. These persistent symptoms can eventually lead to heart attacks, strokes, metabolic disease and severe infections, like pneumonia.

There is no cure for dysautonomia currently.

However, new discoveries have found that in patients with dysautonomia, the regrowth and rewiring of nerve fibers conducted by microglial cells after spinal cord injury are abnormal and maladaptive. Phillip Popovich, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Neuroscience, and others have pointed to this in their research and believe dysautonomia could in fact be prevented by depleting the microglia.

“Using experimental tools to deplete microglia, we found it’s possible to prevent abnormal nerve growth, and prevent autonomic complications after spinal cord injury,” Dr. Popovich says.

Next up, Dr. Popovich hopes to identify the neuronal signals that cause microglia to remodel spinal circuitry.

“Identifying these mechanisms could lead to the design of new, highly specific therapies to treat dysautonomia after spinal cord injury,” Dr. Popovich says. “It could also help in other neurological complications where dysautonomia develops, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and traumatic brain injury.”

Accelerating the pace of research and discovery

Research is an integral part of what makes the college and the university such a force in the global medical community. Maged Costantine, MD, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and division director of Maternal Fetal Medicine at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, will lend his experience approaching difficult situations in the care of high-risk pregnant people. He is principal investigator of a $14 million grant to study whether a higher daily dose of aspirin is more effective in decreasing the risk of dangerous blood pressure complications among some pregnant people. Funded through the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the work will allow researchers to examine hypertensive disorders that impact nearly one in seven pregnant individuals.

Dr. Costantine explains that hypertensive disorders in pregnancy are increasing by about 10% every year, and disproportionately affect minoritized communities and other groups with historical disadvantage.

“Currently, delivering the baby is the only treatment for these conditions, which often means babies are born too early and have increased risks for complications such as bleeding in the brain and infections,” Dr. Costantine says. “Given the high frequency, related complications and inequities, it is important to improve treatment methods.”

Bringing together scientists with diverse skill sets to tackle problems from different angles is the foundation of the research offered at The Ohio State University Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute (DHLRI). Thomas Hund, PhD, professor of Internal Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, serves as DHLRI director. He says the institute brings in more than $50 million in grant funding each year for young scientists and runs an innovative six-month mentorship program set up to help researchers get their first NIH grant.

“The program pairs researchers with peers and a faculty mentor,” Dr. Hund says. “The result has been a 90% success rate obtaining grants.”

The College of Medicine actively changes lives through research

Shahid Nimjee, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery and surgical director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at the Wexner Medical Center, has received multiple NIH grants to develop a novel and reversible drug to treat patients who present with acute ischemic stroke. These strokes account for 87% of all strokes and is the leading cause of combined mortality and morbidity worldwide.

Being at the forefront of new treatments for neurovascular disease led Dr. Nimjee to co-found Basking Biosciences, a company developing the first reversible thrombolytic therapeutic for ischemic stroke. To date, it has raised $55 million to test stroke treatment and has provided positive results of a Phase 1 single-dose safety study in healthy volunteers.

“Our novel von Willebrand Factor (vWF)-targeting thrombolytic agent, BB-031, is a driver of blood clotting,” Dr. Nimjee says. “It is designed to be safer and more effective than available treatments and to effectively resolve thrombosis beyond the limited therapeutic window of the currently available pharmacological option.”

The potential to develop a solution to the major unmet need in acute thrombosis for a rapid-onset, short-acting drug that is capable of quickly reopening blocked arteries will save countless lives. Innovation like this plays a huge role in the region’s health care innovation and is part of what makes Ohio State such a force in the global medical community.