Building Better Bones: The Future of Bone and Cartilage Regeneration

John A. Szivek, PhD and David S. Margolis, MD, PhD

When

6 – 7:15 p.m., March 13, 2019

The Future of Bone and Cartilage Regeneration

John A. Szivek, PhD
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Professor, Physiological Sciences Graduate Interdisciplinary Program
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Adjunct Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Adjunct Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

 

 David S. Margolis, MD, PhD
Associate Professor with Tenure, Orthopaedic Surgery
Orthopedics – Hand & Wrist
Assistant Professor, Physiology
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Director, Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP), Department of Undergraduate Education

 

About the Lecture

University of Arizona Arthritis Center Senior Scientist John Szivek, PhD, and UA Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery David Margolis, MD, PhD, will discuss the groundbreaking bone regeneration and cartilage research being conducted in their laboratory. Dr. Szivek also will shareinformation detailing his five-year, $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to studyhow to speed up bone formation using a combination of 3D printing and adult stem cells.

 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 30 million Americans have osteoarthritis— the type of arthritis caused by damage or breakdown of joint cartilage on the surface of bones — making it both the most common form of arthritis and the most common cause of disability in adults. Approximately 6.3 million fractures occur each year in the United States, costing the health-care systemapproximately $28 million per year, as reported by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

 

During the lecture, Dr. Szivek will share recent results from their work to provide a scaffold support structure that is anchored in bone and on which high-quality cartilage can be grown. For people who have osteoarthritis, there are no injectable therapies that will regenerate cartilage now or in the near future. The best hope for these patients is a scaffold-based system on which cartilage is grown.

 

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Margolis will discuss the challenges of growing cartilage; specifically, the cell sources to grow it and the ways to deliver the cells to patients to allow the cartilage to grow with the right structure. He will cover what the research team already has accomplished: stem cell extraction development procedures, cell culture studies to grow tissue, animal studies that show it is possible to grow healthy-looking cartilage, and the most recent studies to determine the loading (weight bearing) that is required to produce the right kind of cartilage for patients with arthritis.

 

About Dr. John A. Szivek

John Szivek, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and holds the William and Sylvia Rubin Endowed Chair in Orthopaedic Research. He is director of the Robert G. Volz, MD, Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, a senior scientist in the UA Arthritis Center, and holds professorships at the UA BIO5 Institute, in the UA Department of Biomedical Engineering and in the UA Physiological Sciences Interdisciplinary Graduate Program. He also is an adjunct professor in the UA aerospace and mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering departments.

 

Dr. Szivek’s main research interest involves understanding the relationship between physical activity and bone and cartilage formation. His additional research interests include orthopaedics, including bone remodeling, and bone and cartilage tissue engineering. His projects include measurement of mechanical loads on long bones and joints, studies of how implants interact with native tissues, such as bone and cartilage, and the mechanical properties of various musculoskeletal structures.

 

David S. Margolis, MD, PhD

David S. Margolis, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in the UA College of Medicine - Tucson. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry, master’s degree in physiological sciences, doctorate in physiological sciences and medical degree, all at the University of Arizona. Dr. Margolis' research interests include combining cutting-edge technologies in engineering, medical imaging, physiology and molecular biology to develop treatment strategies for musculoskeletal tissue regeneration. He works collaboratively on translating the novel biomaterial and implantable sensors produced in the laboratory into clinical use for patients.