On Friday, November 11, 2022, we are excited to welcome Prof. Corinne Henak from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as they present, "Basic science to prevent osteoarthritis: cartilage microfracture and cartilage oxidative-reductive balance "

ABOUT THE SEMINAR

Articular cartilage is a remarkable material. Lining the ends of long bones, it provides decades of pain free ambulation, a consequence of complex, poroviscoelastic material behavior. However, when cartilage is structurally damaged, osteoarthritis can occur, negatively impacting overall quality of life by reducing mobility. This talk will cover our recent research on mechanics and redox balance of cartilage. Using a microindentation experimental set-up, we induced cartilage fracture across a range of loading rates with altered matrix integrity. This provided insight into the role of poroviscoelastic relaxations in cartilage failure, allowed us to identify a pre-relaxed regime from which we estimated fracture toughness, and allowed the identification of two distinct failure regimes. Using optical redox imaging, we can evaluate cartilage redox balance over time. Our results demonstrate that cartilage redox balance is sensitive to mechanical loading, oxygen tension, and glucose availability, and that redox balance is dynamic. Our studies are the first to evaluate the immediate oxidative-reductive balance in cartilage following mechanical load, providing insight into the effects of physiological and injurious loading that can predispose cartilage to damage. Together, these basic science studies lay foundations for leveraging mechanics to reduce the burden of osteoarthritis.  

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Corinne Henak, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dr. Corinne Henak is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with affiliate appointments in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation and the Department of Biomedical Engineering. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Denver in 2008 and a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Utah in 2013. Dr. Henak trained as a post-doc in Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University. The Henak Lab research vision is to drive fundamental knowledge generation and tool development to improve quality of life, specifically focused on the burden of musculoskeletal diseases in humans and animals.

ABOUT THE BME SEMINAR SERIES

The Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University is proud to host an annual weekly seminar series on the latest developments and research in Biomedical Engineering. The weekly series takes place on Friday mornings at 11:00 AM Eastern and includes a variety of renowned academics from top universities to talk about their specific research and experience. This is a hybrid event.