The mission of the Medical University of South Carolina Digestive Disease Research Core Center (MUSC DDRCC) is to enhance research infrastructure and expand research capacity to enable outstanding, collaborative biomedical research in digestive and liver diseases.
The Center is dedicated to fostering and facilitating the interdisciplinary and collaborative research of its 37 full and 27 associate members, and the career development of junior faculty. Currently, 37 full members contribute to a stable research base of $32.7 million in digestive disease research funding, including approximately $16 million in Federal grant funding.
The DDRCC’s central theme is focused on the continuum of organ injury, inflammation, and fibrosis - leading to disease. This continuum is highly relevant in the vast majority of digestive and liver diseases and incorporates research in both basic cell and molecular biology and clinical techniques; some examples include the esophagus (esophagitis), stomach and small bowel, liver (represented in almost all forms of liver injury), pancreas (especially chronic pancreatitis), and colon (inflammatory bowel diseases).
Thus, the key goal of the DDRCC is to bring together investigators studying digestive and liver diseases and provide them with core resources and collaborative opportunities to further their scientific inquiries.
The MUSC DDRCC is one of 17 nationally-funded Digestive Disease Research Centers. A complete listing of these centers may be found here.
Our Goals
- Foster collaboration among digestive and liver disease researchers to further augment the Center's research capacity while ensuring the success of a critical mass of outstanding researchers in digestive and liver diseases.
- Through Pilot and Feasibility project funding, attract and support junior investigators into the field. The P & F project additionally is expected to attract those who are not currently involved in digestive disease research to apply their expertise to this important area and help translate basic research discoveries to the clinical arena.
- Develop sustainable scientific core resources to support digestive and liver disease studies while leveraging institutional investments. The DDRCC scientific cores include:
- Promote the long-term success and sustainability of the DDRCC through a rigorous Center evaluation and process improvement strategy, mission alignment with other centers at MUSC, and a specific long-term institutional commitment to the Center.
MUSC Hosts National Digestive Disease Center Meeting
On October 13-14th, 2022, and during its inaugural funding period, the MUSC DDRCC hosted the NIDDK-funded Director’s Meeting of the Silvio O. Conte Digestive Disease Research Core Centers in the Low Country. This meeting of national leaders in GI and liver disease included research presentations from across the country, and was the first such in-person meeting since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
