Opportunity for a Mechanical/Electrical Engineer
To join a multidisciplinary team studying post-traumatic osteoarthritis
Approximately one in every 10,000 people sprain their ankle each day, with ankle sprain representing the single most common athletic injury. At least half of sprains result in damage to the articular cartilage of the ankle joint and over 50% of these lead to irreversible joint damage, or osteoarthritis.
A collaborative team including members of the Fortier Lab (College of Veterinary Medicine), the Bonassar Lab (BME/MAE) and Weill Cornell NYC/Hospital for Special Surgery are developing a pre-clinical large animal model to study ankle Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). The aim of this study is to better understand the early pathophysiology of PTOA and develop therapeutic interventions to prevent progression to end-stage joint disease.
Our model involves delivering an impact injury to the joint surface of a horse during arthroscopic surgery, using a custom made, spring-loaded impacting device. Immediately following impact, we will perform live-cell imaging via an arthroscopically-adapted multiphoton microscope. This will allow us to monitor and characterize changes to the extracellular matrix as well as determine chondrocyte viability.
To obtain mechanical data during the impact, we plan to utilize MEMs accelerometers affixed to both the impacting device and the bone being impacted. We will validate this positional information using high frame-rate videography and simultaneously acquire data from a load cell within the impacting device.
We are looking to recruit a Mechanical or Electrical Engineer who is comfortable programming microcontrollers that will interface to an accelerometer. Familiarity with Labview and MatLab software is desirable. Depending on the students' interest and background, additional opportunities exist.
Contact: Prof. Larry Bonassar
Email: lb244@cornell.edu
Phone: 5-9381
Office: 149 Weill