Dr. Chelsea Bahney just received a grant from UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute ( http://ctsi.ucsf.edu/news/about-ctsi/ucsf-researchers-win-awards-bring-treatments-out-lab) to help accelerate development of laboratory research into product that can improve clinical outcomes for patients.
This was with the help of students from UCSF/UC Berkeley MTM program ( http://uctranslationalmedicine.org/) and the team of researchers at the OTI.
Approximately 2.2 million bone grafting procedures are performed worldwide each year to address issues such as bone fractures that wont heal, fuse the spine to address back pain, or create new bone to fill large defects that result from traumatic injuries or in cases of bone resection to treat cancer. Current treatments for bone graft either take bone from the persons own body, which can be painful, or have a high failure rate (16-35%). Researchers from the UCSF OTI have discovered that cartilage can effectively promote new bone formation by promoting the normal mechanisms of fracture healing or bone development. Congratulations! 
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