Seeding discovery, catalyzing team science

In 2017, Jayasuriya was among the first researchers to receive a Pilot Project Award, which provided $75,000 in research support. With his collaborator Dr. Brett Owens, Jayasuriya investigated whether mesenchymal progenitor cells, which derive from healthy joint cartilage, could be injected into the knee to repair meniscus tears and reduce the risk of developing osteoarthritis.

The work made possible by the grant positioned Jayasuriya’s team to secure additional federal and foundation grants to further develop their ideas into what became a translatable technology: cell-based regenerative therapies that could heal orthopedic soft tissue injuries. They moved from proof-of-concept studies to research demonstrating the therapy’s safety in animals, and eventually to study clinical efficacy in humans. In 2025, they founded EnkaBio to commercialize the technology and bring it to patients.

“Advance-CTR has been remarkably important in this journey, because when we started, that was really the only program focused on research for the sake of developing products for patients,” Jayasuriya said. “They provided funding to bridge basic science and translation so we could begin our development pipeline.”

Jayasuriya continues to collaborate with EnkaBio co-founders Owens, who was his mentor on the Advance-RI CTR grant, as well as with his former postdoctoral mentee Jay Trivedi, an assistant professor of orthopaedics (research) who also received program funding for his independent research. The team has a commercial patent for their technology — one of six researchers have secured through their participation in Advance-RI CTR since its launch.

Engaging the community in research

Over the past decade, Advance-RI CTR has created new opportunities for investigators and communities to work together by supporting 40 research collaborations involving 81 awardees.

The 2021 federal grant enabled the program to establish the Community Engagement and Outreach Core to help facilitate partnerships between health researchers and community members. The core organizes community engagement studios, which bring together community stakeholders with research teams to participate in conversations around planning, implementing or disseminating information about a study. Since June 2024, Advance-RI CTR has completed 17 of these studios.

Leaders from the core handle all of the logistics and training, said co-lead Jackie White Hughto, a professor of behavioral and social sciences and of epidemiology at Brown. They recruit participants and community leaders who can serve as subject matter experts and teach researchers how to facilitate a conversation that elicits useful, relevant feedback.

“Getting these different levels of perspectives and ensuring that research is responsive to community needs only strengthens the work,” Hughto said. “Our core is able to shepherd researchers through the community engagement process and also train them how to organize and facilitate studios on their own.”

The Community Engagement and Outreach Core is one way that Advance-RI CTR has been fundamental in the personal and professional growth of Dr. Adam Lewkowitz, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School. Lewkowitz had already received funding and training from Advance-CTR when, in 2026, he reached out for guidance with community-based research. He was designing a cognitive behavioral therapy program to prevent postpartum depression using a smartphone app. This was a new research endeavor for him, and he wanted to learn what value the app would have for users and whether the idea was worth pursuing or should be modified before applying for grant funding. 

Staff from the core helped Lewkowitz host a community studio with parents, including those who had babies in neonatal intensive care units. The ensuing discussion helped Lewkowitz determine for whom the app would best be suited and when it would be most useful.

“We were able to confirm that the new project was not only worthwhile from the patients’ perspective but also scientifically feasible,” Lewkowitz said. 

Lewkowitz used the insights from the community engagement studio to develop an application for federal project funding, which is under review.

Expanding from the center

In its third funding phase, Advance-RI CTR will transition from a center focused on developing research capacity to a networked program: the Advance-RI Clinical and Translational Research Network (Advance-RI CTR-N).

“This evolution represents more than a change in designation; it represents a fundamental expansion of what we can accomplish together,” said principal investigator Dr. Methodius Tuuli, a professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School and executive chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Care New England.

The program, which will be led by Tuuli after Rounds retires from Brown, will focus on three critical health priorities: chronic disease and aging, behavioral and mental health, and maternal and child health. It will be defined by partnerships that bring together researchers, clinicians, health systems, community organizations and the people whose lives the research ultimately seeks to improve.

Advance-RI CTR-N is also introducing new multi-site research awards that incentivize researchers to not only collaborate across institutional boundaries but also across states. For example, administrators from Advance-RI CTR-N will meet in November with colleagues from the Great Plains CTR based in Omaha, Nebraska, to discuss how to leverage regional research strengths for national impact.

The center will also launch new mechanisms to help investigators in Rhode Island access specialized research infrastructure and expertise throughout the state.