The Iatridis & Illien-Junger Labs had a great time at the ORS PSRS 4th International Spine Research Symposium in Lake Harmony PA! Chaired by Makarand Risbud, PSRS is a unique meeting in which prominent investigators and trainees in the spine research community come together to share their latest findings, trends, and ideas.

Congratulations to our PhD Candidate, Olivia Torre, on being a recipient of the “ORS PSRS Trainee Podium Award for Outstanding Scientific Research”! Her presentation, “Functional Restoration of Intervertebral Disc Biomechanics Following Neonatal Herniation Injury,” was delivered during the ‘Disc Biomechanics and Imaging’ session on October 26th, 2017.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor, Dr. Svenja Illien-Junger, on being a recipient of the Young Investigator Award. Dr. Illien-Junger advises ORL’s MS student, George Zhao, who presented the poster, “Phlpp1 in Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis During IVD Growth and Degeneration,” during the second poster session on October 25th, 2017.

In addition to these awards, Dr. Iatridis gave a fantastic talk titled, “Annulus Fibrosus Injury, Repair, and Regeneration” and Dr. Krishnamoorthy presented her poster, “Characterization of Human Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Glycosaminoglycan Sulfation Patterns using Multiple Reaction Monitoring with Liquid Chromatography-mass Spectrometry”.

We are very proud of these achievements and we look forward to ORL’s future research successes!

In addition to presenting our research and networking within the community, the Spine Lab enjoyed the time away from NYC in the Poconos.

Team learns about disc pathobiology:

Dr. James Iatridis giving his talk:

 Olivia receiving her award:

Svenja receiving her award: