The Dynamic lab has moved from the Department of Surgery to the Department of Orthopaedics, where they will start to build a strong preclinical and translational research program that will compliment the clinical research interests already underway. The lab will continue to work with Surgery and NCCC on cancer-related and surgical-oncology related projects, but for the past few years, the lab has increasingly become involved in the exciting research area of orthopaedic trauma and other orthopaedic procedures like arthroplasty. "The research we were involved in to address cancer, where we provided the surgeon with tools to better discriminate between diseased and healthy tissue, that is a problem across the board," described Prof. Elliott. "Orthopaedics has the same challenges, but Trauma surgery is one of the most common types of surgery provided in the US. Dr. Gitajn has quickly expanded her research program with two large external grants, and she was kind enough to bring me into that collaboration a few years ago. Working with her, and also with Dr. Henderson, I have learned about the unmet need for better surgical-guidance and real-time imaging that can let a surgeon know what bone and soft tissue has adequate blood supply, and which is devitalized--in a state of non-perfusion making it a nidus for infection."
The Dynamic Lab will continue working closely with Dr. Leah Gitajn on major research projects and multicenter clinical trials, as well as with Dr. Eric Henderson and Dr. Michael Sparks on additional research activities and areas of inquiry, to translate dynamic optical imaging for challenges in orthopaedic trauma, cancer, and sports medicine. The major research themes of the Dynamic Lab are: (a) developing hardware and analytic solutions for real-time imaging of hemodynamics in bone and surrounding soft tissue, (b) developing preclinical models of orthopaedic trama and infection to test these solutions and better understand underlying mechanisms and (c) using novel methods and probes to image bacteria and biofilms and to assess bioburden in implant-associated infection.
The Dynamic Lab is actively recruiting postdocs so if this research sounds exciting and aligned with your talents, please check out this Job Posting .
