Congratulations Keti Vaso on your successful MEng degree from Cooper Union

Congratulations Keti Vaso on your excellent MEng thesis titled ‘Evaluation of the Regenerative Potential of Mesenchymal Stem Cell-derived Exosomes for Annulus Fibrosus Repair and Controlled Delivery Using Hydrogel-embedded Poly(lactic-co-glycolic) Acid Microspheres’ and on your successful defense on April 29, 2021. You were an outstanding contributor with Tyler and our team advancing several ambitious projects. We wish you much continued success in your current position as R&D Scientist at Henkel. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ketivaso/

Dr. Weiser from Cooper Union, Keti’s primary mentor, has been an outstanding collaborator with our lab in biomaterials and educational research.

ORS Acceptances!

Congratulations to the team on the excellent ORS abstract acceptances! We are proud of the diverse and exciting work submitted and accepted this year!

  1. Torre OM, Das R, Berenblum RE, Huang AH, Iatridis JC: Neonatal mice intervertebral discs restore function following herniation injury, Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society, Session 013, Podium Presentation #: 0068, 2018.
  2. Torre OM, Evashwick-Rogler TW, Iatridis JC: Optimizing Biomechanical Loading Protocols Ex Vivo to Improve Detection of Mild Intervertebral Disc Injuries, Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society, PS1-054, Poster #: 0771, 2018.
  3. Krishnamoorthy D, Liu X, Lin L, Xue P, Zhang E, Zhang F, Linhardt RJ, Iatridis JC: Characterization of human lumbar intervertebral disc glycosaminoglycan sulfation patterns using multiple reaction monitoring with liquid chromatography- mass spectrometry, Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society, PS1-053, Poster #: 0748, 2018.
  4. Krishnamoorthy D, Torre OM, Natelson D, Smith M, Iatridis JC, Illien-Jünger S: Dietary advanced glycation end product consumption leads to mechanical stiffening of murine intervertebral discs, Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society, PS2-152, Poster #: 1630, 2018.
  5. Mui B, DiStefano T, Hecht AC, Iatridis JC: Hydrogel formulation and culture conditions influence TGF- β3 release kinetics and extracellular matrix elaboration in genipin-crosslinked fibrin for annulus fibrosus repair, Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society, PS2-154, Poster #: 1666, 2018.
  6. Hom WW, Lin HA, Korda N, Desai JS, Nasser P, Hecht AC, Nicoll SB, Iatridis JC: Ex vivo biomechanical evaluation of a combined annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus hydrogel repair in a large animal model of severe intervertebral disc herniation injury, Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society, Spine: Modeling and Mechanics, Session 38, Podium Presentation #: 0216, 2018.
  7. Mosley GE, Evashwick-Rogler TW, Kaseta T, Lai A, Iatridis JC: Sex differences in rat lumbar intervertebral discs following annular puncture injury, Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society, PS2-152, Poster #: 1641, 2018.
  8. Zhou GK, Bradley EW, Westendorf JJ, Iatridis JC, Illien-Junger S: Role of Phlpp1 in Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis in Intervertebral Discs, Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society, PS1-053, Poster #:  0750, 2018.
  9. Real A, Ukogu C, Hecht AC, Iatridis JC: Elevated Glycohemoglobin HbA1c is Associated with Low Back Pain Independent of BMI, Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society, PS1-058, Poster #: 0802, 2018.
  10. Gluck MJ, Beck CM, Skodras A, Laudier D, Fowkes ME, Iatridis JC, Cagle PJ, Hausman MR: In Vivo Monitoring of Nerve Structure and Function Following Neural Stretch Injury via SHG Microscopy and Intra-Operative Nerve Stimulation, Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society, Session 056, Podium Presentation #: 0308, 2018.

Publication in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research!

Congratulations to the team on the publication of “Dietary Advanced Glycation End Products Have Sex- and Age-Dependent Effects on Vertebral Bone Microstructure and Mechanical Function in Mice.”!

The recently published manuscript in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research demonstrated that a poor diet, high in advanced glycation end products can, independent of diabetic or overweight conditions, diminish vertebral microstructure, mechanical behaviors and fracture resistance in young female mice. This work suggests poor diet as a potential cause of accelerated spinal aging, especially in females

Publication in the Spine Journal!

Congratulations to the team on the publication of “Accumulation and localization of macrophage phenotypes with human intervertebral disc degeneration.” in the Spine Journal!

This paper is one of the first to identify and localize multiple macrophage phenotypic markers in human IVDs. The most important findings identified CCR7+ and CD163+ macrophages increased with IVD degeneration grade and were significantly more present in IVD regions with structural irregularities and defects. These results improve our understanding of the important role macrophages and macrophage-like cells play in the complex inflammatory processes involved in IVD degeneration.

ORS PSRS 2017

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:

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Einstein Meeting 2017

Thursday, October 19th marked the 6th annual Musculoskeletal Repair and Regeneration Symposium hosted by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Orthopaedic research at Mount Sinai was well represented at the meeting with multiple posters and a talk from Dr. James Iatridis on annulus fibrosis repair in a large animal model. Most excitingly, Olivia Torre was named one of three winners of the Young Investigator Award for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for her work on injury and regeneration in the neonatal mouse intervertebral disc.

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Take a look at the Huang Laboratory Page for a Related Post!

Publication in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research!

Congratulations to the team on the publication of “Hyperosmolarity induces notochordal cell differentiation with aquaporin3 upregulation and reduced N-cadherin expression.”!

The recently published paper in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research identifies extracellular osmolarity as a triggering mechanism for nucleus pulposus maturation and identifies a compensatory shift in osmosensitive and mechanotransductive proteins from notochoral cells to small nucleus pulposus cells. This work furthers our understanding of the processes underlying IVD aging and mechanotransduction.