Chairman's Overview - Serpil Erzurum, M.D.
Pathobiology researchers serve the national and the global community by dedication to the solution of problems in human health through discovery, application, and education. Our goals are to enhance prevention, treatment and cures through research, and to develop innovative clinical programs for treating patients. The common research theme and the multi-disciplinary creative investigators in Pathobiology assure a continued high degree of successful collaborations, discoveries and innovation that allow us to realize these goals.
Department of Pathobiology
The Department of Pathobiology is home to a multi-disciplinary team of scientists who are dedicated to the study of disease at fundamental levels, as well as to the application of that knowledge. 
The department serves as a bridge between basic biomedical research and clinical medicine and facilitates new scientific knowledge in an environment where it can be translated into direct benefits for patients. The theme of laboratory research in the department is inflammation and repair, that when dysregulated form the common denominators of human disease. Disease inflammation is characterized by prolonged and active inflammation, with tissue destruction, and failed attempts at healing. There are several settings for chronic inflammation, including persistent infections, prolonged exposure to toxic agents, and autoimmune diseases. The host response of chronic, as opposed to limited acute, inflammation after infection or exposure to an agent depends on the interaction between agent, host, and environment. Repair after inflammation may occur by two different processes, including healthy regeneration of tissue and removal of abnormal matrix, or through replacement of tissue with connective tissue stoma. Repair through formation of connective tissue is associated with angiogenesis, deposition of extracellular matrix, and remodeling of tissues, and causes pathology and clinical disease. Pathobiology research programs encompass studies aimed at understanding diseases caused by chronic inflammation and remodeling, including the investigation of allergy and asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, granulomatous inflammation, pulmonary vascular disease, innate host defense and sepsis and the host-pathogen-environment interaction. Capitalizing on the clinical strengths at the Cleveland Clinic, many of our programs include translational and clinical components related to these diseases. Several centers of study are focused on disease topics IBD center, Respiratory Institute, Liver Disease Research
Research & Faculty
Building from roots in fundamental life sciences and clinical medicine, scientists in the Department of Pathobiology are closely integrated across departments and divisions, and across the spectrum of clinical care to basic research. The research of the department is laboratory-based but also interfaces with field and clinical studies. The research activities focus on the casual factors of disease and at the development of new knowledge to elucidate disease processes, means for disease detection and identification, factors responsible for disease dynamics in a population, and novel measures of disease prevention. The Department fosters multi-disciplinary research teams, which creates and environment in which new scientific knowledge can be translated into direct benefits for patients. Strategic partnerships between scientists, physician-scientists, clinicians and the private sector. The Department’s research programs are led by scientists expert across the spectrum of medicine to fundamental sciences-including molecular biology, cell biology, immunology, biological chemistry, and physiology. Frequently, research utilizes the bedside to bench, and from bench to bedside approach, to directly study human disease and test new prognostics and therapies.
Pathobiology’s depth and breadth of expertise are enhanced by valuable contributions from staff members who have joint appointments in other departments and centers, including the Digestive Diseases Institute, the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research (IBD Summit) , The Respiratory Institute, the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program (Pulmonary Hypertesnion Summit) and the Asthma Research Center (Asthma Summit Flyer and Program).
The Department has grown substantially since its inception in 2004 through the recruitment of new staff, and the reorganization of clinical research at the Cleveland Clinic. There are 15 staff members, 4 project staff and more than 100 support personnel in Pathobiology with laboratories housed on the 2nd floor of the Lerner Research Institute NC building and the 4th floor of the NE building. The members of the M51 Clinical Research Unit of the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) transferred into Pathobiology during the incorporation of clinical research into the Lerner Research Institute in 2007. This has solidified the department focus on blending the full spectrum research of bench to bedside and back.
Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) Clinical Research Unit.
The attainment of the Clinical and Translational Science Award in 2007 allowed conversion of our NCRR-funded General Clinical Research Center into the CTSA Clinical Research Unit. One of only 24 sites in the country, the Cleveland Clinic CTSA Clinical research Unit provides clinical research facilities consisting of research-only inpatient facilities, outpatient research exam rooms, nursing for protocol implementation, sample processing facilities, and pilot funding. Our Clinical research Unit is located on the 5th floor of the Cleveland Clinic hospital (M51). The superb administrative and clinical team includes Charlotte Bhasin, CTSA Administrator, Kay Stelmach, Clinical Research Unit Nurse Manager, a staff of dedicated Clinical research Nurses, laboratory technicians expert in clinical and translational research processes, and highly qualified clinical research administrative support personnel.
In 2007-08 fiscal year, the M51 Clinical Research Unit provided $1.4 million of resource support to Cleveland Clinic RO1 and K funded investigators, NIH network studies, Program Project Grants (PPG), and Specialized Centers of Clinically Oriented Research (SCCOR), which included >250 Cleveland Clinic Staff from every Cleveland Clinic department/institute and more than 140 projects on-site, 86% of which were NIH funded. In 2007-08, the M51 Clinical research Unit of the CTSA provided 2,359 research outpatient visits, 310 overnight research hospital stays, and the M51 Core Lab processed nearly 15,000 samples. Coordinated within the CTSA administration, the Cleveland Clinic Research Programs Committee grants awards are also managed by Ms. Bhasin and provide access to research funding for Cleveland Clinic Investigators.
Research and Education Activities
Pathobiology Staff had excellent productivity in research funding and publications in 2007, with 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and 40 active grants [NIH RO1, R21, R37, K-award series, and PO1 grants].
Pathobiology offers a range of educational and research opportunities to high-school students and undergraduates, as well as graduate and post-graduate education. The department supports mentorship via members with K awards, Training grant awards, and through graduate research opportunities for Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Cleveland State University, or Kent State University graduate students, or via the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medecine (CCLCM) or the Howard Hughes supported Graduate Program in Molecular Medicine. Many department members are actively involved in the medical education curriculum in CCLCM, noteworthy among whom are Drs. Aulak, Comhair and Majors.
Pathobiology Department Newsletters
Department Activities
Department Picnic at Deep Springs Trout Club - August 2007
Holiday Party - December 2007
Department End of Seminar Series Picnic - June 2007
Seminars and Meetings
The Pathobiology Seminars are held on Tuesdays at 1 pm in NE1-205 and are open to all for attendance. We gratefully acknowledge the visiting professors and scientists from Cleveland and institutions around the world who have come to share their research with us.
2007-2008 Speakers
2008-2009 Speakers
Monthly Luncheon Chalk Talks for Pathobiology Faculty Members
Open and interactive dialogue amongst our faculty on their ongoing research.
Quarterly Technologist Meetings
Technical support staff meeting that coordinates specific and continuing education presentations and/or discussions to provide technical information, and that communicates administrative items. Dr. Carol de la Motte serves as the staff liaison.