A researcher at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has received a $2.3 million federal grant to study bone loss associated with cerebral palsy, the hospital announced Sept. 18.

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awarded the grant to Dr. Tishya Wren, a biomedical engineer and director of research for the Children’s Orthopaedic Center at the east Hollywood hospital.

Wren will conduct a two-year study of nearly 150 ambulatory children and adults with the neurological disorder that can lead to low bone mass, or weak bones.

“We will be following both children and adults with cerebral palsy, since we want to know more about the trajectory of bone deposition and then bone loss over the lifespan,” Wren said in a statement.

Results of the study will be used to determine which patients with the disease are at highest risk of developing osteoporosis, and to help doctors design interventions aimed at maximizing and maintaining bone strength.

Health business reporter Dana Bartholomew can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @_DanaBart.