Dr. Keith Brew

Dr. Keith Brew, Schmidt Senior Fellow and Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Basic Science at FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science has received an R01 Grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH).

The 2.6 million dollar grant is a 5-year renewal representing years 15 through 19 of a long-term project. This project is an international collaboration with Dr. Hideaki Nagase, a scientist at the Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology in London (UK), along with other collaborators in Spain and the UK.

The focus of the research will be on Osteoarthritis (OA), a disease that afflicts approximately 21 million people in the US over the age of 25, generating an enormous economic cost that is growing rapidly as the population ages. This project is aimed at developing and evaluating a novel approach for OA treatment employing engineered proteins and other molecules that specifically block the enzymes responsible for degrading cartilage in OA. They will be investigating the mechanisms through which they act and assess their effectiveness using animal models of the disease and human tissues derived from joint replacement surgery.

There are currently no effective treatments for osteoarthritis except for joint replacement surgery. Therefore increasing the knowledge of the structures and molecular mechanisms of these key enzymes and finding ways to specifically inhibit these proteinases may provide new opportunities for the development of therapeutics and treatments to prevent the joint destruction seen in osteoarthritis.