Tendinopathy is a common musculoskeletal disease. In the Andarawis-Puri’s lab we have multiple injury models to study the mechanisms of injury and remodeling of the tendon. We currently have an in vivo fatigue loading injury model for the rat patellar tendon. This is a great model to study the effects of injury in an in vivo setting however the in vivo setting comes with many variables that are difficult to control. One way to simplify the injury model is to eliminate these variables by taking the tendon out of the body. In an organ culture setup, we can interrogate therapeutics and mechanisms in a very controlled fashion prior to in vivo evaluation. The goal of this MEng project is to develop an organ culture system to investigate the tendon injury and remodeling in vitro. The organ culture system should allow: (1) cyclic loading of the tendon, (2) transport of nutrients into the dense center of the tendon, (3) visualization of the remodeling process, and (4) biological modulation the environment.
This project is well suited for 1 student with background in mechanical design and fabrication. Experience with mechanical testing, Labview and Matlab software is highly valued. Students will learn biomechanical design, cell/organ culture basics and viability assays.
Interested students should forward a copy of a resume and unofficial transcript to:
Contact: Prof. Nelly Andarawis-Puri
Professor Nelly Andarawis-Puri
na424@cornell.edu
353 Upson Hall