Chris Erickson, a second year bioengineering PhD student, was awarded the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) TL-1 Pre-doctoral Fellowship for his proposed thesis work on treating growth plate injuries. The growth plate is a cartilaginous region found at the ends of long bones in children, and is responsible for bone elongation. Injury to the growth plate from trauma or disease in the young child can result in bone growth abnormalities. Unfortunately, there is no clinical treatment that can fully correct these injuries, which may result in skeletal deformities that persist throughout life. However, tissue engineering offers a promising alternative treatment by using stem cells, biologics, and biomimetic materials to regenerate the injured growth plate. Chris will be investigating a tissue engineering approach to treating growth plate injuries under the mentorship of Dr. Karin Payne, a basic scientist in orthopedic regenerative medicine, and Dr. Nancy Hadley-Miller, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. Support by this scientist-physician team and the CCTSI will help advance the translation of basic science discoveries into clinical treatments.