MUSCULOSKELETAL RESEARCH CENTER - 2000
Savio L-Y. Woo, Ph.D., D.Sc.(Hon.) - Center Director and Vice Chairman for Research
Table of Contents
[ Introduction ]
This past December marked the ninth anniversary of the establishment of the Musculoskeletal Research Center (MSRC) in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. The MSRC has laboratories located in the 16th Floor of the Biomedical Science Tower (the Bioengineering and Tissue Engineering Laboratories under the direction of Dr. Savio Woo), in Presbyterian University Hospital (the Ferguson Laboratory under the direction of Drs. James Kang and Raj Sinha), in Rangos Research Center (the Growth and Development Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Johnny Huard), and in Trees Hall (the Neuromuscular Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Scott Lephart). The diversified interests of the principal investigators, as well as collaborations between them, enable us to pursue a multidisciplinary approach to orthopaedic disease oriented and clinically relevant research.
This past year was both exciting and successful for the MSRC, as we hosted a national conference, welcomed new personnel, and applauded the recipients of several national and international awards.
One of the most exciting and well-planned events was the 23rd Annual American Society of Biomechanics Meeting held for the first time in Pittsburgh this past October. The local organizing committee chaired by Drs. Lars Gilbertson and myself planned for months to ensure everything would go smoothly and visitors traveled from all over the world to enjoy the perfect balance of science and fun. Sessions ranged from sports biomechanics and cardiovascular biomechanics to modeling and neural control. Poster sessions allowed many students to display their work. A highlight of the opening ceremony was a keynote lecture delivered by Professor Y.C. Fung, the "Father of Modern Biomechanics", at the Carnegie Music Hall. Visitors entering the music hall were first greeted by the music of our very own talented Dr. Lars Gilbertson, Kathryne Stabile and Damion Shelton who dazzled listeners with their string and piano ensemble. After an explosive introduction, Professor Fung identified how to do things correctly making difficult projects look easy and reviewed biomedical engineering from a historical perspective in a memorable lecture entitled "Next Bioengineering: How to live long happily?". To complete the events, conference attendees piled onto buses and climbed aboard the Gateway Clipper to enjoy a night of dinner, dancing, magic and gambling. The conference was a great success and established Pittsburgh as a city to remember.
ABS Meeting local organizing committee
We have also done well by submitting a large number of proposals. The ACL group has submitted four Ferguson grants for $5,000. The Upper Extremity group has submitted proposals to the National Science Foundation for $200,000, the National Institutes of Health for $800,000, and a Pittsburgh Foundation grant for $5,000. The MCL group has submitted a proposal for a MAC grant for $125,000, the Samuel and Emma Winters Foundation for $10,000, and two Pittsburgh Foundation grants for $5,000. The Shoulder group has submitted proposals to the Orthopaedic Research and Education Fund for $100,000, Whitaker Foundation for $200,000 and $240,000, the Aircast Foundation for $200,000, and two Pittsburgh Foundation grants for $5,000. The Spine group has submitted a proposal to the National Institutes of Health grant for $750,000 and three Pittsburgh Foundation grants for $5,000 each. The Ferguson Laboratory has submitted four proposals for National Institutes of Health grants for $625,000, $320,000, $100,000 and $75,000, a Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative grant for $50,000, a V.A. Hospital Pilot grant for $50,000, a University of Pittsburgh CMRF grant for $30,000 and four Pittsburgh Foundation grants for $5,000.
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[ Achievements ]
We continued to have high achievements and received recognition over the past twelve months. Fellows, students and faculty certainly made the MSRC proud as they brought home major awards from national and international societies.
In November of 1999, graduate students Jonathan Sakai, B.S., Ted Clineff, M.S., and Marsie Janaushek, M.S. were three out of the six finalists for the Masters Level Student Paper Competition and Todd Doehring, M.S. was a finalist for the Doctoral Level Student Paper Competition of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at the meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Jonathan Sakai, B.S. and the spine group were awarded the Microstrain Award during the American Society of Biomechanics meeting for their work entitled "Basic Science and Clinical Applications of a Magnetic Tracking/Virtual Reality Based System for Assessment of Overall Cervical Spine Kinematics". Both Jamie Pfaeffle, Ph.D. and Steven Abramowitch, B.S. were finalists for the Journal of Biomechanics Award presented at the American Society of Biomechanics meeting entitled "A fiber network theory model to describe stress and strain in the interosseous ligament of the forearm" and "The quasi-linear viscoelastic properties of the healing goat medial collateral ligament: an experimental & analytical approach", respectively.
Award winning MSRC Spine Group
Under the direction of Drs. Freddie Fu, Rich Debski and myself, the ACL group was also successful in their endeavors this year. Dr. Akihiro was awarded the Arthroscopy Association of North America Research Award at the Annual Meeting in Miami, Florida in April for work entitled "The Effect of Axial Torque on Grading the Pivot Shift Test: A Biomechanical Analysis". This paper will be presented.
Under the direction of Dr. Johnny Huard, the Growth and Development group was very productive this year. Dr. Douglas Musgrave received awards this past year including the 32nd Annual AOA-Zimmer Travel Award for Orthopaedic Residents Association in Sun Valley, Idaho in March for his work entitled "Adenovirus-mediated direct gene therapy with BMP-2 produces bone". Dr. Douglas Musgrave was awarded the Best Scientific Poster for the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina in December. Dr. Douglas Musgrave was also awarded the Resident's Award for Best Scientific Research in Orthopaedics April from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Dr. Jacques Menetrey was awarded the European Society of Sports and Knee Arthroscopy traveling fellowship in March in part for his work done in the Growth and Development Laboratory. Dr. Johnny Huard was a Grand Prize Winner for the Urodynamic Society's Essay Contest for the Basic Research Category during the 20th Annual Meeting Held in May in Dallas for his paper "Differentiation of primary myoblast injection into the lower urinary tract; creation of detrusor cellular myoplasty". Dr. Huard was also inducted into the "Who's Who in America, Science and Engineering" in June of this year. Dr. Charles Day was awarded the Best Scientific Exhibit for Scientific Content at the American Society for Surgery of the Hand in August for his work, "Growth Factor Improves Denervated Muscle recovery". Dr. Yohoyama was awarded the 2000 Annual Lapides Essay Contest from Urodynamics and Neurology Research in November for his paper entitled "A Muscle derived stem cells MDC injected into the bladder wall can improve detrusor contractility". Dr. Fukushima was awarded the Cabaud Award from the American Society for Sports Medicine in January for his paper entitled "The use of anti-fibrosis agent to achieve a complete muscle recovery following sports related muscle injuries".
The annual trip to the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) Meeting took place in March and the MSRC once again left their mark with 43 abstracts accepted for poster or podium presentations. Dr. Ken Fischer, Dr. Lars Gilbertson, Dr. Akihiro Kanamori, Dr. Doug Musgrave, Dr. Kotaro Nishida, Dr Christopher Niyibizi, Dr. Jamie Pfaeffle, Dr. Felix Riano, and Dr. Johnny Huard all presented podium papers. The MSRC sponsored a new addition to the ORS this year. Dr. Richard Debski, Dr. James Wang, myself organized The International Symposium on Ligaments and Tendons held one day before the ORS at the Grand Floridian Resort in Orlando, Florida. With 106 attendees, this meeting was unique in that there was extra time allotted for discussion to allow students and faculty to receive extensive quality feedback on their research. From the MSRC, Dr. James Wang and Tracy Vogrin, M.S. both gave talks at the scientific sessions while Dr. Pat McMahon and Eric Wong, B.S. presented during the short presentations. We have received numerous positive feedback from this endeavor. Many others had heard about the meeting afterwards and would like to join next year and it will become an annual meeting for years to come.
In August, 1999, the third annual Summer Student Symposium was held. Each undergraduate student presented the successes and challenges they faced as they worked on their project throughout the summer. The presentations were judged by the faculty of the MSRC. The winners included Damion Shelton, Rob Svitek, Jon Fischer and Karen Reisiger, all University of Pittsburgh undergraduate students, and were given an award to commemorate their achievements.
During this past year, Dr. Maria Apreleva defended her doctoral. thesis and is continuing her academic work at Harvard University. Marsie Janaushek has defended her Masters thesis and is now working in New Jersey. John Withrow has defended his Maters thesis and is now continuing his education in business at Duke University. Michael Wentz and Nicolas Perrusquia have also completed their Masters defense this past year. Congratulations and best wishes to all of them. We are also proud to announce Chris Celechovsky, B.A. has been accepted to several medical schools and will begin his studies this fall.
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[ Personnel ]
During this past year we have welcomed several new faces to the MSRC. Gustavo Azcona-Arteaga, M.D. from Mexico City joined us in July as a post-doctoral research fellow working with the MCL and ACL groups. Feng-Yan Jia, M.D. has joined us from Xi'an University in China and is working with the MCL group. Yukihisa Fukuda, M.D. joined us from Kyoto Prefectural University of Japan and comes with the added benefit of having both a medical and engineering background. Dr. Fukuda is working with both the ACL and Robotics group. Eiichi Tsuda, M.D. has come from Hirosaki University of Japan and is performing research with the ACL group.
Danyel Tarinelli, M.S. joined us from the University of Connecticut in July as a staff research engineer. She is also working with Dr. Christopher Harner and myself with the PCL group on various projects. Constance Chu, M.D. has joined the Ferguson laboratory from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard University as a faculty member and specializes in both total joint and articular cartilage restoration. Kim Decker, B.S. has also joined the Ferguson laboratory from Quest Diagnostics in Baltimore, Maryland and is working as a research specialist.
Constance Chu, M.D. and Danyel Tarinelli, M.S.
We also welcomed four first-year residents in July 1999 to spend a year doing musculoskeletal research. Ezequiel Cassinelli, M.D. completed his degree at the University of Texas Medical School and is working on projects under the direction of Dr. James Wang with the MCL group. Ronald Hall, M.D. received his degree from the University of Pennsylvania and is working under the direction of Drs. Lars Gilbertson. and James Kang with the Spine group. J. Mi Lee, M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh is working on projects under the direction of Dr. Rich Debski with the ACL group. Joon Lee, M.D. received his degree from Yale and is participating in many outstanding projects under the direction of Dr. Johnny Huard with the Growth and Development laboratory.
This past summer, we continued to be energized by a number of enthusiastic undergraduate students who spent thirteen weeks with us at the MSRC. In the Summer Undergraduate Research Program coordinated by Dr. Lars Gilbertson, the students are assigned to one of the research groups and work closely with their team members throughout the summer. The program culminates with a symposium at the end of the summer where each student presents his or her accomplishments. Returning students were Damion Shelton and Rob Svitek of the University of Pittsburgh. Together they joined students Jon Fischer, Karen Reisiger, Beth Kirkpatrick, and Ryan Costic from the University of Pittsburgh, Thomas Vikoren, a medical student from the University of Pittsburgh. Amaury Rolin and Shivdev Rao from Carnegie Mellon University, and Michael Williams, from Ringgold High School.
Each year brings new additions to the MSRC, and this has continued to be a fertile year. Serena and Kyi Saw celebrated the birth of their first son, Jacob Andrew, in January. Rich and Mandy Debski are expecting to join the new baby club this April while Ken and Sandie Fischer are expecting a third daughter in May.
Mrs. Vera Kornfield and Mrs. Pattie Woo
In November, Dr. Chris Evans left his position as director of the Ferguson laboratory for a position with Harvard University and we wish him well. Drs. Raj Sinha and James Kang are now co-Directors of the Ferguson laboratory and are pleased to report on their research progress in the following pages.
Lori Miller and Dr. Janey Whalen have both left the Ferguson lab to join other departments within the University. Lori is now with the Department of Otolaryngology and Dr. Whalen is now with the Department of Urology.
This February we also said goodbye to one of our staff members, Mrs. Chris Phillips. Chris has been with the MSRC since 1997. Her uplifting spirit and smiles will be missed at the MSRC and we wish her all the best in her future endeavors.
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[ Social Events ]
The MSRC was able to hold its first weekend summer retreat at Seven Springs in July as a result of the Chancellor's Award.
MSRC taking it easy at Seven Springs!
In August, once again the MSRC tackled nature and went whitewater rafting on the Youghiogheny River at Ohiopyle. Three boats braved the rapids with no near-death experiences. The winners for the greatest distance between boat and passenger contest were Mi Lee and Zeke Cassinelli as they sent their boat far ahead down the rapids and decided to swim. Water fights were instigated by Ted Rudy and his numerous water guns.
In January, the MSRC organized a ski trip at Hidden Valley Ski Resort proving once again the MSRC's love for adventure. Yukihisa Fukuda dazzled us with his snowboarding ability. Those Japanese fellows can really fly! Joon Lee and Mi Lee should definitely make the Korean ski team while Ted Rudy says his goal is to ski free past 70! Unfortunately, we did have one casualty. Zeke Cassinelli took a bad fall on his snowboard and suffered a forearm fracture. He has recovered quickly but it is rumored that he will be selling his snowboard soon!
December brought the holidays and the 3rd annual MSRC Christmas brunch. The brunch was held at the Biomedical Science Tower and featured a full-breakfast menu. It was a wonderful morning shared by the MSRC. Mrs. Pattie Woo and Mrs. Sandie Fischer also joined us to make it a truly special event.
During ORS in early March, the MSRC laboratory lunch was held at the Rainforest Café in Orlando, Florida. The MSRC enjoyed a delicious lunch while surrounded by various animals in the jungle. Every ten minutes they had to endure an indoor thunderstorm that drove the wildlife mad!
MSRC hanging out with Spiderman in Orlando
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[ My Sabbatical Leave ]
Meanwhile, I am taking a six-month sabbatical leave from the University. Pattie and I have been enjoying the warm winter (although a little rainy) in California at Stanford University. This is a much needed break from our normal routines. Both of us have been invigorated and feel energized. The sabbatical is also a test on the maturity level of the MSRC. Things appear to go exceedingly well without my presence as the faculty and Dr. Fu have provided the needed leadership (I am grateful!). Although the jury is still out, I can say that I take great pride of everyone's willingness to turn it up a notch. There have been no serious problems of any kind as the MSRC continues to be successful and productive.
While at Stanford, I am learning more about functional assessment of body motion from my colleagues as well as participating in special courses such as bioengineering research and development as well as tissue engineering. Also, much efforts have been devoted to the understanding of new biotechnology firms as well as dot com companies. Hopefully upon my return, the MSRC can collaborate and derive funding from some of these companies as well as engage in the entrepreneur spirits of start-ups. Meanwhile, I have found time to exercise regularly (increasing some muscle mass?) and get back on the tennis courts frequently. We have also had the opportunity to indulge on much fine fresh seafood in Chinese restaurants here.
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