The scientific project "Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Vascular Anomalies" is a highly developed partnership between researchers and physicians which began in 1993 at Harvard Medical School. In September 2003, the National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases) awarded a Program Project grant of 1.26 million dollars to Harvard School of Dental Medicine/Harvard Medical School to support the work of this partnership. The goal of the research is to better understand, at a molecular and cellular level, the development of vascular anomalies in humans. These anomalies include the most common vascular tumor, juvenile (or infantile) hemangioma, and vascular malformations such as mucocutaneous venous malformation (VM) and glomuvenous malformation (GVM). Three highly interactive scientific studies are funded by the NIH grant as well as several support cores. The work is done by a remarkably qualified group of researchers and physicians located in Boston and Brussels.