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Francesca Mariani '91 Receives $2.37 Million NIH Grant

March 7, 2017

Mariani
Francesca Mariani '91 is an assistant professor with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. Her research team was recently awarded a $2.37 million NIH grant to continue their study of bone regeneration and improved bone healing in cases where traditional surgery isn't sufficient.

From the USC website:

“Each year, about 5 million people in the US have fractures that fail to heal successfully,” said Mariani. “By using our new bone regeneration model, we can identify the stem cells needed for successful bone healing. Going forward, we are investigating a promising biological factor that stimulates these cells to mediate repair.”

Mariani credits Bryn Mawr professors Peter Brodfuehrer and the late Margaret Hollyday and Paul Grobstein for the training to be a successful researcher.

"My experiences studying Biology at BMC were formative--It is at BMC that I first learned how to identify the important questions in a field, design rigorous experiments, and draw new conclusions. However, most importantly I was encouraged to think 'outside the box' by my mentors and to take the risk of exploring new research directions. For this, I am forever grateful."