Category: Good News

Matt Invited to Serve on NIH Review Panel

Matt was recently invited to serve a four-year term on an NIH grant review panel. Specifically, he will be assisting with the initial/integrated review group for the Skeletal Biology Structure and Regeneration Study Section (SBSR), and the Musculoskeletal, Oral and Skin Sciences Integrated Review Group (MOSS).

He was nominated for his “demonstrated competence and achievement in his scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of his research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities, achievements, and honors.”

We’re all so proud!

Zack is Done!

Congratulations to Zack (Dr. Davis!), who defended his dissertation on August 1. He joined the lab as an undergrad back in January 2015, and now he’s left with his doctorate. He did an amazing job at his defense(surprising no one) and he will be very sorely missed in the lab. Outside of Matt and Steph, he is the last remaining member of TORL 1.0, and his support for his lab mates– including mentoring at least a half dozen undergrads– his leadership, and his positive attitude have played a huge role in making the lab what it is today.  

Graduation 2022

Last weekend was graduation, and TORL was proud to have four students graduating this year — two grad students and two undergrads.

Aasim will be starting at University of Texas at Austin in the fall. He’ll be pursuing a PhD in their Biomedical Engineering, initially doing rotations with Dr. Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez and Dr. Stephanie Seidlits

Andre will be starting as a level 1 engineer with Spectrum Plastics.

Lewis will be beginning a post doc in a few weeks with Danny Freytes, who served as Lewis’s co-advisor for his PhD. He won’t be going far (in fact, the Freytes Lab is the next bench down from ours so really not far!) but we’ll still miss having him as part of our group.

Danielle is putting the final touches on her dissertation and will be defending later this summer. We’re of course very excited for her, but also glad to not be losing her quite yet!

Congratulations to our Graduates!

Graduation 2019 was an exciting day for the lab. We graduated our first two Ph.D students: Stephanie and Paul. We also had three undergrads graduate this year: Emily, who joined our lab four years ago as a freshman, as well as Alex and Raghad, who joined us last summer.

 

Stephanie will be going on to a post-doc in at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Emily is going on to grad school at the University of Delaware. Alex and Raghad have both gotten great jobs in industry here in RTP.

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations graduates!

 

 

We got an R01 Grant!

Our recent R01 grant application was funded by the NIH! The proposal, titled “Sex- and Age-Dependent ACL Function in the Growing Knee Joint” has been funded for $1.6 million dollars from April 2018 through March of 2023.  You can see more about the award here, or scroll down to see and abstract and the public health relevance of our research.

 

Per the NIH, “The Research Project Grant (R01) is the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by NIH. The R01 provides support for health-related research and development based on the mission of the NIH”.

 

Abstract Text:
Recent data indicates that the fastest rising rates of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries of the knee are reported in children and adolescents with significant growth remaining. In the skeletally immature patient population, surgical reconstruction is increasingly suggested for complete ACL tears. However, the choice of non-surgical treatment or immediate surgical reconstruction of ACL tears remains a subject of debate in young patients with significant growth remaining or in the case of partial tears involving one ACL bundle. Sex appears to be a major risk factor for ACL injury during adolescence, but not in childhood, adding another layer of complexity. For both complete and partial ACL injuries, treatment algorithms have been developed without considering the potential sex- and age-dependent function of the ACL, due to the paucity of available data. Thus, the objective of this proposal is to determine how age and sex impact ACL maturation and joint function during skeletal growth and to assess if this knowledge can be applied to improve treatment after ACL injury. Aim 1 will determine how sex impacts the maturation of the ACL as well as that of its individual AM and PL bundles during skeletal growth. Aim 2 will determine how age and sex impact the immediate loading of secondary tissues in-vitro and the remodeling response of the joint in-vivo following loss of function of the AM bundle, PL bundle, or the entire ACL. Aim 3 will determine how replacement graft type and placement should vary to restore age- and sex-specific ACL and joint function. Successful completion of these aims will provide a basic science foundation for the development of age- and sex-specific algorithms for the treatment of ACL injuries.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
With increasing activity and participation in organized sports within children and adolescents, injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of the knee joint are rising dramatically, and appropriate age- and sex- dependent treatment algorithms are still unclear. The goal of this proposal is to determine how age and sex impact ACL maturation and joint function during skeletal growth and to assess if this knowledge can be applied to improve treatment after ACL injury. Such information will be critical to guide sex- and age-specific treatment strategies for children or adolescents with ACL injuries and significant remaining growth, and the knowledge obtained can be extended to guide new surgical and/or non-operative treatment.

We’ve Moved!

Apologies for the long silence, but we’ve been busy with our exciting news: we’ve moved! Our lab is now located in the brand new Biomedical Partnership Center at the Center for Veterinary Medicine at NC State.

We’re sad to leave behind EB3, but excited about the possibilities for closer collaboration with our colleagues at the vet school. Plus we’re excited to have a lot more space, and it’s still shiny and new!

Photos of our new space will come once we have it all set up, but in the mean time we’d like to say a fond farewell to our old lab.

Who knew we had so much stuff?
Getting packed up
it looks so much smaller now that it’s (almost) empty