MIRI’s multidisciplinary research teams leverage world-class expertise present across the campus of Tufts University.
Tufts Medical Center, the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine, has advanced pediatric, maternity and adult services all on one Boston academic campus. This enables our physicians to serve families across the lifespan and facilitates linkage of medical records for research purposes.
The 41-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Tufts Medical Center has undergone rigorous peer-review selection to participate in the National Institutes of Health’s Neonatal Research Network; Tufts Medical Center is the only NICU in Massachusetts currently selected to participate.
This national consortium of 16 NICUs collaborates on clinical research projects to identify best clinical practices and test new protocols to accelerate the introduction of clinical advances in NICUs throughout the United States. In addition, the Tufts Medical Center NICU is a designated March of Dimes Family Support Center.
MIRI’s internal research collaborators include physicians and scientists at Tufts Medical Center and its other research institutes, and faculty at Tufts University.
Some of the personnel and resources available that especially align with MIRI’s mission include:
Human Nutrition Research Center
- One of only six human nutrition research centers in America supported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- Mission is to explore the relationship between nutrition, health, and aging
- Specific research laboratories dedicated to the study of obesity metabolism and nutritional genomics
- Faculty include an internationally renowned expert in nutritional genomics
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University
- The only veterinary school in New England, ranked among top 10 in US
- Mission advances past president Jean Mayer's "One Health" initiatives that improve the health and well-being of animals, humans and the environment.
- Nationally and internationally recognized for research in regenerative medicine, infectious disease, reproductive biology, and hepatic disease.
- International collaborations in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East promote advancements in sustainable animal agriculture, wildlife conservation, and public health.
- Offers unique resources and skills for MIRI research, including innovative collaboration with animal researchers with expertise in substance use disorder, established preclinical models
to pursue the mechanistic understanding of the neurobiology of substance use disorder that is translatable to the human population, state-of-the-art NanoString GeoMx® Digital
Spatial Profiler that enables spatial transcriptomic and proteomic analysis.
School of Engineering (Department of Biomedical Engineering)
- Long-term NIH support for research, resources, and expertise related to biomaterials, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine
- Advanced skills in the optical, noninvasive imaging of cells, tissues and extracellular matrices and biomaterials
- Unique expertise in the development of novel silk-based biomaterials for a range of applications in medicine, including construction of 3D functional human tissues for clinical use (in vivo), the study of disease (in vitro), drug screening (in vitro), and for drug delivery (in vivo)
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (Department of Neuroscience)
- One of the top 10 departments of Neurosciences in the United States
- Expertise in study of cognition, epilepsy, depression (including post-partum), and neurodegeneration
- Faculty include an international leader in the study of glia in health and disease
- Faculty in Anatomy and Cell Biology include one of the world’s experts in bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical in plastic that is an endocrine disruptor and causes harmful effects to mothers and children, including obesity
Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI)
- One of 55 institutions in 28 states funded by the National Center for Research Resources at NIH
- Provides research infrastructural support to 9 Tufts University-affiliated hospitals, 11 schools and centers within Tufts University, 13 Community-based partners, and 7 industry partners
- Goal is to reduce the time for laboratory discoveries to become treatments for patients, engage communities in research efforts, and to train clinical and translational researchers
- Provides specific expertise to MIRI researchers in biomedical informatics, study design support, as well as a clinical translational research facility for patient-centered studies