Engineering x Orthopedics

By Grant Currin

“Biomedical engineering was spawned from the classical engineering disciplines, but it’s fundamentally multidisciplinary,” says Clark Hung, professor and vice chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia Engineering and professor of orthopedic science in Orthopedic Surgery at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S). “When the discipline was emerging several decades ago, orthopedics was a natural venue to showcase how mechanics could be applied to the body.”

Early research centered on developing braces to correct problems by applying mechanical force to bones, teeth, and other tissues. Today, biomedical engineers work closely with clinicians and medical researchers to develop a wide range of medical devices, biomaterials, clinical methods, and insight into how living organisms function.

“Columbia has historically been a powerhouse in biomechanics — in particular for articular cartilage, which is the connective tissue that covers our bones,” Hung says.

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That legacy has reached a new pinnacle through a massive, accelerated project to develop the technology for a low-cost, biocompatible knee joint replacement that uses stem cells.

“There’s such a deep bench of researchers at Columbia Engineering and Columbia University Irving Medical Center who work in this area, but we’ve never been able to have such a large multidisciplinary team come together to collaborate on one project before,” says Nadeen O. Chahine, associate professor of biomedical engineering in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at VP&S.

Typically, two or three researchers work together on a project. Now, through the ARPA-H Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis program, researchers from across Columbia and beyond are working on an accelerated, high-impact project. The agency is modeled on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s renowned funding approach and inspired by the tremendous success of rapidly creating vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To bring 15 PIs and co-PIs together under a single project with one goal is an unprecedented opportunity for collaboration,” Chahine says. “This is a stressful, high-paced project, and having those longstanding relationships is essential— it’s really a team effort.”