Translational Orthopaedic Research Laboratory
Part of the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at NC State University and UNC-Chapel Hill
Congratulation to Jay, who recently presented his research at the Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium!
Jay presenting his SIRI summer research project. #SummerURS@NCStateCMI@BioInterfaceLabpic.twitter.com/Phw63hUy4y
— Matt Fisher (@mattbfish) August 1, 2017
Back in March we participated in the Invite a Scientist program through the UNC Science Festival. We visited a 6th grade class at Apex Middle School. You can see our post about our visit here.
Since then, we put together a lesson plan that can be used by late middle school or high school science teachers to introduce their students to the ideas of material properties, tissue growth and function, and how we hope to use 3D printing in medicine in the future. It ties in to the Next Generation Science Standards in the areas of middle and high school life science (LS) and engineering, technology, and applications (ETS) (more specific connections can be found in the lesson plan).
If you’d like to use our lesson plan, you can view and download it here or below. Please send a quick email to Stephanie (sdteeter[at]ncsu.edu) and let us know what you think, whether you opt to use it or not!
Lesson Plan_Understanding Mechanical Properties to Improve Current Knee Injury Treatments
Congratulations to our department, including TORL, which won the National Biomechanics Day Student Competition! We were one of three entries selected based on high quality biomechanics content. The second annual National Biomechanics Day was held on April 6, 2017. See the announcement here!
Many congratulations are in order for Stephanie, who was one of 12 nominees selected for the University Award for Excellence, which is the highest honor a non-faculty member can receive! Despite stiff competition, the committee recognized her outstanding contributions to the community. Now she goes on to compete for the Governor’s Awards for Excellence. Winners will be announced late this summer.
Per the website: “The NC State University Awards for Excellence recognize the notable contributions that are above and beyond an employee’s normal job responsibilities. These meritorious achievements or accomplishments should be so singularly outstanding that special recognition is justified.”
See the official announcement here.
Congratulations are in order for the lab’s latest official Ph.D. candidate! On June 13, Paul presented his thesis proposal to his committee and passed with flying colors. Congratulations Paul!
A paper from our lab’s research into orientation changes in the cruciate ligaments was recently published in the Journal for Orthopaedic Research.
The paper, first authored by Stephanie Cone, demonstrates that a pig model exhibits the same changes in the angles of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in the knee relative to the tibial plateau throughout growth as results previously found in human female patients. This has important implications for better understanding pediatric knee growth and injuries going forward.
The article, titled “Orientation changes in the cruciate ligaments of the knee during skeletal growth: A porcine model” results from an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Jorge Piedrahita from the NC State Comparative Medicine Institute, Sean Simpson from the Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences at NC State, as well as Dr. Jeff Spang in the Department of Orthopeadics and Dr. Lynn Fordham from the Department of Radiology and at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. Funding was provided by the NCI Cancer Center, National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.
The NC State Bulletin also covered the research in a recent article.
Congratulations to Hope and Stephanie, who are both graduating this weekend.
.
Hope Piercy is graduating with her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering. After graduation, she will be working for Method Sense as a quality consultant.
.
Stephanie Teeter is graduating with her Master’s of Education degree in Science Education. After graduation, she plans to continue her work in the lab and will begin a part-time PhD in Science Education in the fall at NC State.
.
Congratulations to them, and everyone else graduating today!
On Friday we held the second annual TORL mini golf extravaganza. Matt was the winner (again) and was handsomely rewarded with a mini glow-in-the-dark Death Star trophy. The loser had to have a Sno Cone flavor chosen by the winner. Matt bequeathed this honor to the runner up mini-golfer, Paul, who made Jay (our gracious loser) have a combination of orchid, spearmint, with a hint of citric acid for tartness. Note that orchid is so bad, that it has been described as “eating potpourri” and is not even on the menu. Special request only. Luckily Jay was a good sport about it. Though he tried to finish out of stubborn pride, he eventually yielded to his protesting taste buds about half way through.
The winner’s circle (of one):
Jay going in for the first bite:
Smiling through the pain. What a sport!
Congratulations to Stephanie for this extraordinary accomplishment!
https://www.bme.unc.edu/stephanie-teeter-wins-college-of-engineering-award-for-excellence/
Zack recently presented a poster about the work that he’s been doing in our lab. Congratulations Zack!
