Despite advances in clinical management, millions of Americans remain afflicted with benign conditions of the bladder and uro-genital system, including UTIs, urolithiasis, conditions associated with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and dysfunction (LUTD) – urinary incontinence, over/underactive bladder & bladder outlet obstruction – pelvic pain syndrome, and erectile dysfunction. The annual treatment cost of these illnesses is ≥$11.5 billion.
Inter- and cross-disciplinary collaboration within the benign urology research community is required in order to understand the mechanistic changes of the urogenital tract in disease and to establish clinically-relevant models of urologic conditions
CAIRIBU is a community of NIDDK-funded research centers and programs whose overarching objective is to address gaps in knowledge related to the epidemiology, etiology, development, progression, and expression of benign urologic conditions, all of which contribute to inadequate clinical treatment. Map of sites here. CAIRIBU includes the:
- U54 George M. O’Brien Urology Cooperative Research Centers
- P20 Exploratory Centers for Interdisciplinary Research in Benign Urology
- Multidisciplinary Urologic Research Career Development Programs (K12)
- Urological Epidemiology Institutional Research Career Development Programs (K12)
NIH/NIDDK oversight for CAIRIBU:
Project Scientist – Julie Barthold, M.D. (julia.barthold@nih.gov)
Program Official – Deepak Nihalani, PhD (deepak.nihalani@nih.gov)
PI, UW-Madison U24 Interactions Core (DK127726):
Kristina Penniston, PhD, RDN (penn@urology.wisc.edu)
CAIRIBU is a community of researchers studying benign urology diseases at U54 O’Brien Cooperative Research Centers, P20 Exploratory Centers, and K12 Career Development Programs funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), one of the institutes within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CAIRIBU Centers and Programs are united around the overall objectives of improving our understanding of the mechanisms of urogenital diseases and developing clinical therapies for treating them by building collaborative and interactive research platforms that span the gamut from basic to translational to population research.
