Philadelphia was the next stop on the fellows’ tour. Arriving on President’s Day (20th Feb) they hit up some high-profile tourist destinations. First up was a visit to the Liberty Bell, which as many readers will be aware, supports an idiosyncratic fracture down the side – the perfect conundrum for a group of travelling orthopaedic researchers! Tom and Simon (the physicians) explored the history and performed a thorough physical examination; Irene and David (engineers) developed a finite element computer model to determine the forces involved and propagation characteristics, whilst Nidal and Nisreen set about designing a synthetic scaffold to repair the fracture. David proudly announced the conclusion; the fracture was most likely down to poor quality American manufacturing… before a crowd of angry locals pointed out that the bell was originally manufactured in the United Kingdom!
The fellows sheepishly retreated to Reading Terminal Market where they indulged in an original Philly cheese steak and the best doughnuts known to man (Bieler’s).
The next day they met with Professor Mark Schafer at Drexel University. Despite only having a few weeks to plan, Mark had arranged a tremendous programme of lab visits and research presentations. First up was a visit to Prof Steven Kurtz’s lab – A.K.A Disneyland for 3D printers. Irene and Nidal (both big 3D printers) were like kids in a sweet shop! The team demonstrated their cutting-edge technology, including a haptic 3D design system used to develop custom implants for large cancer resections.
The fellows were subsequently treated to a tour of the biomedical engineering lab. Nidal and Nisreen were impressed with Prof Lin Han’s lab. His research into cartilage extracellular matrix and its role in tissue regeneration and osteoarthritis development excited Nidal. As fellow cartilage mechanobiologists, the pair sat down after lunch to discuss some collaboration opportunities. Prof Benjamin Binder-Markey then gave the fellows a masterclass in muscle physiology. He demonstrated his unique rig to analyse individual muscle fibre function. After the surgeons suggested that muscle tears generally heal quite well, Tom and Simon were shocked to hear from Prof Binder-Markey how microscopically this is certainly not the case – between them the surgeons have a fair few muscle fibres to apologise to!
After a rather spectacular lunch, the fellows presented their research to an engaging audience of Drexel Dragons, including Dean Prof Paul Brandt-Rauf. A bit like the ‘Dragon’s Den’ many innovative and exciting ideas were discussed, however unlike the TV show, nobody was ‘out’.
After lunch and with minds racing with new ideas, the fellows visited Prof Sri Balasubramanian’s lab. His team of PhD students and post docs fascinated the fellows with their research. David Williams was particularly interested in their work modelling/predicting growth in paediatric scoliosis patients treated with anterior vertebral body tethering. Having recently succeeded in obtaining a grant to use biplanar x-ray to investigate spinal in vivo kinematics, they discussed the potential to apply this technology to this unique cohort of patients – watch this space!
Finally the group were treated to a tour of Prof Mark Schafer’s lab. As a world expert in the field of ultrasound, Irene and Nisreen (currently working on developing ultrasonic cutting tools) were fascinated to see his set up. Prof Schafer talked the fellows through his recent plans to use ultrasound on the brains of fruit flies, investigating whether this technology can alter the behaviour of these tiny creatures – ultrasonic mind control! To end the day, Drexel’s answer to Charles Xavier (Prof Schafer), took the fellows out for dinner, before putting the world to rights over a pint (or several) in the local Irish pub. Drexel put on a wonderful day and the fellows will certainly be back soon!
The next day the fellows were welcomed to Pennsylvania University by Assistant Professor Joel D. Boerckel of Bioengineering and Assistant Professor Nathaniel Dyment of Orthopaedic Surgery, for an exciting day at the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory. The room quickly filled up with students and researchers before the six BORS/BJR fellows delivered presentations to share some of the advances in orthopaedic & musculoskeletal research across the United Kingdom. Their presentations were met with keen interest, in particular, interest in Dr. Nidal Khatib’s work on the role of TRPV4 ion channel in skeletal bone development was expressed as this was very similar to the work that is carried out at UPenn. The fellows were treated to a pizza for lunch and shared informal chats with the students and researchers at McKay Orthopaedics Lab.
After the presentations, the fellows took a walk around the Perelman School of Medicine’s beautiful campus grounds before returning to the labs for lab tours. The fellows were shown the shared collaborative lab spaces that Dr. Boerckel, Dr. Dyment and Dr. Berlew share with their thirteen fellow principal investigators based at the McKay Orthopaedic labs. In this well-managed shared collaborative workspace, the researchers at McKay support one another to purchase state of the art equipment including microscopes, cryosection machines, 3D printers, cell culture facilities that are well maintained and respected by all lab members. The friendly research environment was evident, with students and researchers cheerily chatting away.
After the lab tours, the fellows were treated to a delicious dinner at the City Tap and joined by the labs of Dr. Boerckel and Dr. Dyment as well as Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Gullbrand and Dr. Christopher Panebianco. Over dinner, Dr. Boerckel and Dr. Dyment shared interesting and insightful stories on how they succeeded in their research careers – the main message was a powerful one, which can be summarized crudely as follows: “Life is a series of serendipitous events that eventually tell a story on reflection. We all have our own stories, and compassion for one another in the workplace is important – support your peers. Finally, learning to fail and building the resilience to pick yourself and try again is the key to a successful research career.” With bellies full, their minds buzzing and many new research ideas formed, the day drew to an end. The next stop for the fellows is to pack their bags as they head in the early morning flight out to Boston where they will be hosted at North Eastern University.
British Orthopaedic Research Society 