NFL Supports Tissue Engineering Research
The frequency and severity of ACL injuries in football players has prompted National Football League Charities to provide a $125,000 grant to Helen H. Lu, associate professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Biomaterials and Interface Tissue Engineering Laboratory in the hopes that her work will provide better long-term results in ACL reconstruction.
The anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, is located in the center of the knee joint connecting two bones to control rotation and prevent hyperextension of the knee. When the ACL is injured, it must be surgically reconstructed, generally by using tendons from another part of the body. The tendon is then grafted into each of the bone tunnels.
Dr. Lu’s research is in the area of the interface between the soft tissue, the tendon, and the hard tissue, the bone. In collaboration with biologists, biomedical engineers and orthopaedic surgeons at Columbia and elsewhere, her work is expanding the understanding of the soft tissue-to-bone interface area. By using a novel scaffold system consisting of three different yet continuous phases, multi-tissue regeneration is possible that will mimic the body’s original soft tissue-to-bone interface. This interface is similar to a “wall” of fibrocartilage that allows both kinds of tissues and their respective cell populations to respond to each other. It is expected that her research will make a stronger and more lasting restoration of the ACL possible.
Because of her original work, Dr. Lu has been recognized with the 2008 Young Investigator Award from the Society for Biomaterials and will attend the World Biomaterials Congress in Amsterdam in May, 2008.This award is given annually to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding achievements in the field of biomaterials research within ten years following his/her terminal degree or formal training.
