Musculoskeletal

The multidisciplinary team consisting of seven McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members from four University of Pittsburgh Schools: Read More

Soft tissue injuries — like rotator cuff tears or hip impingement — are fairly common, particularly among athletes and older populations. These injuries frequently require surgery where multiple suture anchors are inserted into the bone, providing a strong base through which a suture can be threaded to reattach tendons and ligaments. Read More

A new report highlights the latest advances in cell-based therapies for the treatment of disorders of the musculoskeletal system, such as arthritis and osteoporosis, and it identifies key unanswered questions that should be addressed through ongoing research. The report is published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and concurrently in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, and was issued by a joint Task Force of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and the Orthopaedic Research Society.  McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Rocky Tuan, PhD, Vice-Chancellor and President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the former Associate Director of the McGowan Institute, is the co-chair of the Task Force. Read More

The Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF) has chosen Abhijit Roy, PhD, a Research Assistant Professor in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Bioengineering, as a recipient of its Junior Investigator Award to help fund his research into a novel bone graft with the potential for complete bone generation in areas with defects. Read More

Osteosarcoma is a cancerous tumor in a bone. Specifically, it is an aggressive malignant neoplasm that arises from primitive transformed cells of mesenchymal origin (and thus a sarcoma) and that exhibits osteoblastic differentiation and produces malignant osteoid. Osteosarcoma is the most common histological form of primary bone cancer. It is most prevalent in children and young adults. Read More

Advances in Cartilage Tissue Engineering–Dr. Rocky Tuan’s Lab Contributes to Progress

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine associate director Rocky Tuan, PhD, is the director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Engineering, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and the executive vice chairman for orthopaedic research at the University of Pittsburgh.  Dr. Tuan’s research focuses on the development, growth, function, and health of the musculoskeletal system, the biology of adult stem cells, and the utilization of this knowledge to develop technologies that will regenerate and/or restore function to diseased and damaged musculoskeletal tissues.  In a feature story in Science News, author Nathan Seppa provides an overview of the research efforts on cartilage creation, including the contributions made by the team of researchers in Dr. Tuan’s lab. Read More