TUCSON, Ariz. – “The Future of Bone and Cartilage Regeneration” will be presented Wednesday, March 13, 6-7:15 p.m., at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson, DuVal Auditorium, 1501 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson. Free and open to the public, the 75-minute presentation will include time for questions and answers.
University of Arizona Arthritis Center Senior Scientist John Szivek, PhD, and UA Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery David Margolis, MD, PhD, will discuss the groundbreaking bone regeneration and cartilage research being conducted in their laboratory. Dr. Szivek also will share information detailing his five-year, $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study how to speed up bone formation using a combination of 3D printing and adult stem cells.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 30 million Americans have osteoarthritis — the type of arthritis caused by damage or breakdown of joint cartilage on the surface of bones — making it both the most common form of arthritis and the most common cause of disability in adults. Approximately 6.3 million fractures occur each year in the United States, costing the health-care system approximately $28 million per year, as reported by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.
During the lecture, Dr. Szivek will share recent results from their work to provide a scaffold support structure that is anchored in bone and on which high-quality cartilage can be grown. For people who have osteoarthritis, there are no injectable therapies that will regenerate cartilage now or in the near future. The best hope for these patients is a scaffold-based system on which cartilage is grown.
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Margolis will discuss the challenges of growing cartilage; specifically, the cell sources to grow it and the ways to deliver the cells to patients to allow the cartilage to grow with the right structure. He will cover what the research team already has accomplished: stem cell extraction development procedures, cell culture studies to grow tissue, animal studies that show it is possible to grow healthy-looking cartilage, and the most recent studies to determine the loading (weight bearing) that is required to produce the right kind of cartilage for patients with arthritis.
Seating for the lecture is limited and prior registration is requested. For more information or to register, please visit the UA Arthritis Center website, arthritis.arizona.edu, or call 520-626-5040 or email livinghealthy@arthritis.arizona.edu.
The UA Arthritis Center offers validation of parking tickets for the Banner – UMC Tucson Visitor/Patient Parking Garage during “Living Healthy With Arthritis” lectures. Tickets can be validated by a UA Arthritis Center staff member in the hospital lobby before or after the lecture.
For questions concerning access, or requests for a Sign Language interpreter or disability-related accommodations, please contact Tracy Shake, 520-626-5040, email: livinghealthy@arthritis.arizona.edu.
The lecture is part of the “Living Healthy with Arthritis” series of free monthly talks presented by the UA Arthritis Center at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson and supported through the Susan and Saul Tobin Endowment for Research and Education in Rheumatology[SJA-(1] .
About Drs. Szivek and Margolis
John Szivek, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and holds the William and Sylvia Rubin Endowed Chair in Orthopaedic Research. He is director of the Robert G. Volz, MD, Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, a senior scientist in the UA Arthritis Center, and holds professorships at the UA BIO5 Institute, in the UA Department of Biomedical Engineering and in the UA Physiological Sciences Interdisciplinary Graduate Program. He also is an adjunct professor in the UA aerospace and mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering departments. Dr. Szivek’s main research interest involves understanding the relationship between physical activity and bone and cartilage formation. His additional research interests include orthopaedics, including bone remodeling, and bone and cartilage tissue engineering. His projects include measurement of mechanical loads on long bones and joints, studies of how implants interact with native tissues, such as bone and cartilage, and the mechanical properties of various musculoskeletal structures.
David S. Margolis, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in the UA College of Medicine - Tucson. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry, master’s degree in physiological sciences, doctorate in physiological sciences and medical degree, all at the University of Arizona. Dr. Margolis' research interests include combining cutting-edge technologies in engineering, medical imaging, physiology and molecular biology to develop treatment strategies for musculoskeletal tissue regeneration. He works collaboratively on translating the novel biomaterial and implantable sensors produced in the laboratory into clinical use for patients.
About the University of Arizona Arthritis Center
The University of Arizona Arthritis Center, a Center of Excellence at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, is a research leader with a focus on identifying the causes of arthritis and developing improved diagnosis, measurement and treatment of the disease. For more information, please visit arthritis.arizona.edu
About the University of Arizona Health Sciences
The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. The UA Health Sciences includes the UA Colleges of Medicine (Phoenix and Tucson), Nursing, Pharmacy and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the growing Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, the UA Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona and the greater Southwest to provide cutting-edge health education, research, patient care and community outreach services. A major economic engine, the UA Health Sciences employs approximately 4,000 people, has approximately 800 faculty members and garners more than $140 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu (Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram)