Hospital for Special Surgery: P. Torzilli, M. Bhargava, T-C. Chen
City College Collaborator: A. Sadegh
Other Collaborators: A. Poole, McGill U.; G. Lester, UNC
W. Horton, NE Ohio Medical College
R. Spencer, NIH-NIA; M. Sanzari, Fordham U.

Our research team is multidisciplinary and includes bioengineers, biochemists, biologists, biophysicists, and physicians. We have been instrumental in characterizing the biomechanical, biochemical and biological processes involved in injury and healing of cartilage and other soft musculoskeletal tissues (ligaments, tendons, meniscus). Our group was the first to measure the transient solute transport properties of cartilage, first to report on how mechanical loads can damage cartilage at the microstructural and cellular levels, and one of the first to develop a mechanical explant test system to simulate joint loading to study mechanochemical cellular signal transduction.

Currently we are using tissue engineering principles to design cartilage and meniscus replacements, studying the mechanotransduction signals responsible for cell damage, and using lasers to measure the basic properties of collagenous tissues at the molecular level. Support for this research has been continuously provided from 1976 to 2002 by grants from NIH, New York Arthritis Foundation, MacArthur Cartilage Foundation, Orthopaedic Trauma Foundation, AO/ASIF Foundation, Searle Corporation, and the Institute for Sports Medicine Research.