The University of Cincinnati and Blue Ash-based Ethicon Endo-Surgery have pushed forward their research collaboration to better understand the mechanical, physical, and biochemical changes that happen when people undergo bariatric surgery.
The research goal is to better understand exactly how the procedure causes dramatic weight loss and develop less invasive surgical devices that make the process ultimately more effective and less painful.
Ethicon recently awarded UC's Metabolic Diseases Institute a $13.5 million, three-year research grant extension to study the physiological issues associated with the surgery that is increasingly common in treating obesity. The grant is part of Ethicon's Metabolic Applied Research Strategy (MARS), which also includes research from GI Metabolism Laboratory and Weight Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. develops advanced medical devices for minimally invasive and open surgeries. Its parent company is Johnson & Johnson. Including this new grant, the EES MARS initiative has invested more than $33 million with UC and the GI Metabolism Laboratory and Weight Center at the MGH.
"Ethicon Endo-Surgery is committed to collaborating with clinicians to develop new, comprehensive bariatric solutions while also ensuring that people with obesity have access to current treatment options that can help them achieve sustained weight loss and reduce co-morbidities," says Karen Licitra, Ethicon group Chairperson.
At UC, researchers are studying of why other metabolic procedures, such as vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) and laparoscopic greater curvature plication (LGCP), work. These and other studies have been presented at prestigious national conferences, including most recently the American Diabetes Association Annual Meeting in Florida this past June.
Source: Ethicon Endo-Surgery
Writer: Feoshia Henderson