News

Happy Holidays!

We took a break during the BPC holiday party to take this delightful photo of (some of) us standing in front of a Christmas tree, located in front of a mural with some Raleigh highlights (the PNC Arena and the Jim Graham Building at the fairgrounds). May your holidays be as bright as the lights on the tree and the fireworks on the wall!

Labsgiving 2018

It was once again time for our most favorite annual tradition – Labsgiving! That day when we eat too much food and celebrate all of our awesome lab members. Luckily, no one passed out at the end of the night this time like last year. We also didn’t take quite as many photos, because we were too excited about the food. We’ll try to do better next year.

 

And rest assured that our fearless lab manager did join us, but she came late because she scored Hamilton tickets and, frankly, we’d skip the start of Labsgiving for Hamilton too.

 

 

 

TORL Goes to the Fair!

It’s that time of year again… the temperature has finally dropped below 90, people break out their scarves and flannel, everything that can contain “pumpkin” spice suddenly does, and Halloween decorations abound. That can only mean one thing… the North Carolina State Fair! This year, in our new home (Biomedical Partnership Center) we’re right across the street from the fair, so a few of us decided to take advantage of the free entry at lunch policy that we’d heard so much about from our vet school brethren.

 

Our view of the fairgrounds from the lab. Check out that Ferris Wheel!
Paul got “5 ounce of pure protein” (as the vendor told him). AKA fried alligator tail!
We can feel our arteries clogging up just looking at this photo
Lewis rounded out the meal with mini cupcakes and fried key lime pie – Surprisingly delicious!

 

The whole BPC crew (BME and CVM People) who ventured out

 

AJ Gets an Abrams Scholar Award

Congratulations to AJ, who was awarded an Abrams Scholar Award from the biomedical engineering department.

 

About the Abrams Scholars Program:

Abrams Scholars are outstanding BME undergraduate students who are selected to receive a stipend to conduct hands-on laboratory research projects. These projects are conceived and designed by the students with the guidance of a faculty mentor. The Abrams Scholar program honors C. Frank Abrams, Jr., a BME and BAE emeritus faculty member. Dr. Abrams led the development of the first courses in Biomedical Engineering at NC State and was instrumental in the founding of NC State’s BME Department, the creation of the joint UNC-CH/NC State graduate program, and ultimately the launch of the UNC-CH/NC State Joint BME Department. He was the Joint Department’s first senior design instructor as well as the first Director of Graduate Studies.

AJ & Emily Receive OUR Grants

Congratulations to AJ and Emily, who both received awards from the Office for Undergraduate Research (OUR).

 

AJ’s proposal, titled “Co-Culture of Muscle and Tendon Cells to Model the Myotendinous Junction”, provides $1000 of funding to the lab to buy supplies for the project.

 

Emily’s grant provides funding for her to travel to a conference, in this case the Biomedical Engineering Society’s annual conference, being held in October in Atlanta. Her project is “Age-Dependent Changes In The Orientation And Shape Of The Anterior Cruciate Ligament Bundles”.

 

Congratulations to both of you!

Third Annual Mini Golf Competition

It was a beautiful North Carolina spring day. The sun was shining, it was a perfect 80 degrees, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. No one spoke, or even dared to breathe. It came down to this one stroke. If AJ could get a hole in one on the 18th hole (regarded by many experts to be the most difficult hole of the course), he would beat Matt and end his 2-year winning streak. He set up the ball. He planted his feet. He rocked back on his heels a bit. A bird chirped in the distance. AJ pulled back the putter and gently tapped the ball. It was good! The ball was going straight for the hole! But alas, the surface was not flat, as is the wont of mini golf courses the world over, and the ball quickly veered off course, rolling down the hill and, with it, the chance of unseating Matt. Everyone (other than Matt) groaned and swore to practice harder for next year.

 

Despite the very upsetting end to the day, we all had a great time at our annual mini golf competition. Matt won (again…) and AJ, as second place winner, got to pick the SnoBall flavors for Stephane C, the loser. Unfortunately for AJ, Stephanie didn’t find the orchid/spearmint flavor combination quite as gross as he had hoped.

 

Sleep with one eye open Matt. We’ll get you eventually!

 

Stats for Annual Mini Golf Competition:

Winner

(Can bequeath privilege of picking SnoBall flavor)

 2nd Place

 

 Loser

(Eats SnoBall)
2016 Matt Steph T Paul
2017 Matt Paul Jay
2018 Matt AJ Stephanie C

 

 

The setting Emily lines up a shot

Stephanie wasn’t nearly as grossed out by her loser’s Sno Cone as AJ had hoped

 

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.