Center for Integrated Biomedical and Rural Health Research

The National Institutes of Health that provides $13.8 million to establish the Center for Integrated Biomedical and Rural Health Research (CIB-RHR) in Great Falls, Montana. This five-year award launches a center designed to strengthen biomedical research infrastructure outside the traditional university setting and create a hub for multidisciplinary work that addresses health challenges specific to rural populations.

The CIB-RHR is based at the McLaughlin Research Institute and builds upon an established partnership with Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine – Montana (TouroCOM-MT), extending research opportunities to faculty, students, and clinicians across the state. The center’s mission emphasizes integration of basic, translational, and clinical science to tackle diseases that are particularly devastating or prevalent in rural environments, while also enhancing career development and recruiting additional healthcare researchers. To achieve these aims, the CIB-RHR initiates four focused research projects addressing neurological diseases: Alzheimer’s disease, age-related macular degeneration, Parkinson’s disease, and chronic wasting disease.

These pilot studies are intended to form a cohesive research portfolio that demonstrates the center’s ability to conduct rigorous, locally relevant science. These disease-focused projects will establish a Montana-based core facility dedicated to gene editing and molecular analysis of human disease models, providing essential technical capacity for the center and wider research community. The CIB-RHR will sustain and build critical core facilities that underpin this work and support expansion of rural health research infrastructure over the grant period. The center’s approach leverages community support and philanthropic investment that enabled recruitment of researchers and the institution’s readiness to pursue federal funding.

The CIB-RHR aims to broaden participation in clinical trials and research for Montanans statewide, and to provide TouroCOM-MT students and faculty — including those from the state’s nonprofit medical school — with expanded research training and experiential opportunities. With more than 19,000 students systemwide at Touro and a focus on serving underserved regions, the collaboration positions the CIB-RHR to contribute to workforce development and to create pathways for trainees to pursue careers in biomedical research and rural health practice.