MU joins muscle and bone disease research partnership

The University of Missouri announced Wednesday it is joining a muscle and bone disease research partnership that already includes the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the University of Kansas Medical Center and Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences.

Missouri will become part of the Kansas City Consortium on Musculoskeletal Diseases, a group formed in 2015 to help the area’s research institutions join forces to compete for grant dollars to study illnesses like osteoporosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is commonly called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“We are very excited to have the University of Missouri join KCMD,” the consortium’s director, Lawrence Dreyfus, UMKC vice chancellor for research and economic development, said in a prepared statement. “Broadening our membership to include the outstanding musculoskeletal and neuromuscular disease research groups on the MU campus will significantly strengthen the collaborative potential for research across our region.”

The consortium has tentatively scheduled its second annual symposium for October at UMKC.

This story was originally published July 12, 2017 at 4:41 PM with the headline "MU joins muscle and bone disease research partnership."