Develop and Gain Support for Your Research Through the Scoliosis Research Society

With the 2024 Research Grant cycle open, it’s time to apply?

?The Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) opened its 2024 Research Grant cycle earlier this month, highlighted by the introduction of the 2024 Named Research Grant , as well as the Resident/Fellow Grants and Exploratory Micro-Grants. The window, which runs through March 15 also includes the Biedermann Innovation Award , New Investigator Grants , SRS-Cotrel Foundation Basic Science Grant , and the Standard Grants .?

?SRS has awarded over 200 grants totaling more than $6.8 million since 1994—all focused on research in spinal deformity.?This is the realization of the SRS mission?to foster the optimal care of all patients with spinal deformities. Member research and the research SRS supports have set the pace for innovation and inspiration in this industry worldwide.?

?In 2020, Dr. John Schoeneman Vorhies and Dr. Carla Pugh were part of a team awarded a two-year, $50,000 grant for the project, “Leveraging Embedded Haptic Sensor Technology for Force Vector Mapping in Orthoses for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis.”??

Dr. Vorhies, who is the director of scoliosis and spine deformity clinical care and research at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, explains that the goal was to better understand how braces work to treat scoliosis patients.?

“There's very little known about exactly how much pressure needs to be applied to the body to correct scoliosis and how the pressures apply actually relate to the success of bracing,” he explains.??

The purpose of the grant-funded research has been to explore the use of sensor technology to nurture improved orthotic interventions, with the end goal being better outcomes and fewer surgeries in patients.??

“We wanted to develop a tool to track the magnitude of pressures that the patient is seeing when they're wearing braces,” Dr. Vorhies shared. “There are many questions that can be answered by this. Like, is nighttime racing better than daytime bracing? How does the pressure change over the course of six months, or? when somebody's being braced, how often should we change the brace????

“And it might be that some of those hours are more important than other hours, because there might be hours when the brace is effectively present applying the appropriate pressures, and then there might be other hours during the day when the brace is less effective.,” he adds.??

With their research ongoing, Dr. Vorhies says these kinds of grants offered by the Scoliosis Research Society provide a great opportunity for those in scoliosis research to develop and gain support for a higher level of evidence and encourages colleagues to apply.??

“The process of applying for a grant causes you to make a better study. You have to very clearly delineate—and in a super organized manner—exactly what you're going to do and, and how you're going to be a good steward of the money that you're going to get. And that causes you to really have to think about what's important in your project,” he stresses. “You have to convince a lot of smart people that it's a good idea. And if you do, then you have yourself a good idea. And if you don't, then maybe that's a good bar to jump over and you should make your project better.”??

If you are new to grant writing, or just looking for additional resources, SRS has compiled a new?SRS grant writing resources page . The site provides valuable resources for young investigators and supports applications for a variety of SRS-supported grants.?

To support SRS grants for research, consider a donation to the SRS research fund . All donations are used entirely for research seeking improved treatments, the causes, and possible prevention of spinal deformities.

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