STRUCTURE-FUNCTION RELATIONSHIPS IN THE ALIMENTARY TRACT

The Harvard Medical School and two of its geographically juxtaposed
affiliated hospitals, the Beth Israel and Brigham and Women's, have joined
to establish a digestive disease center whose major emphasis is the more
effective study of relationships between structure and function in the
alimentary tract. This theme emerged very clearly and naturally from the
findings of an in-depth analysis of the strengths of the component
institutions during the period of an exploratory grant awarded for the
purpose of planning an integrated digestive diseases center. Each of the
three institutions not only has strong programs in morphology at the
cellular and molecular level, but there are also a large group of
investigators with active programs to study function in the alimentary
tract whose research is strongly potentiated by collaboration with
morphologists. Furthermore, it has become increasingly evident that a
variety of areas in alimentary tract research have suffered seriously in
recent years because of inadequate correlations between structure and
function. Interaction and collaboration between clinicians
(gastroenterologists, surgeons, pathologists) and basic scientists will be
emphasized. Several core resources serve to enhance the activities of the
investigators. These include an administrative core, and resources for
morphology, electrophysiology, lipid analysis and radioimmunoassay. An
extensive enrichment program including the availability of grants for
pilot-feasibility studies, weekly combined research conferences, annual
symposia, and opportunities to spend short periods of time in selected
laboratories outside our own institutions is currently ongoing. The long-term objectives of this center are to enhance our understanding
and knowledge of digestive diseases, and thereby improve the care of
patients with these conditions. We believe that this can be accomplished
by furthering the interaction and collaboration of basic and clinical
scientists working to expand the scope of physiological research with
morphologic correlates, and vice versa.