Benjamin Andress, PhD, received the Orthopedic Research Society (ORS) Meniscus Section Poster Award from the ORS annual meeting in February 2022 for his poster, "A Tale of Two Loads: Regional Variation and Inflammation in Meniscus Mechanoresponsive Pathways Using Two Models of Mechanical Loading."
We study the knee meniscus because it is commonly injured and heals poorly, in part due to the inflammatory environment of the knee post-injury,” wrote Andress. “This work was investigating the interaction between dynamic loading and an injury-relevant inflammatory stimulus using two different models of physiologic loading. We found exciting inflammation-modulating effects of dynamic loading in both models, and some interesting differences in response to loading in cells from different anatomic regions of the meniscus. We believe this work may lead to the discovery of novel therapeutic targets to stimulate meniscus healing and/or augment meniscus repair surgery. This study was also recently published in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. It was very gratifying to receive this award because it represents years of work.”
Andress is part of the McNulty Lab and successfully defended his PhD focused on the impact of physical, mechanical, and inflammatory changes on the meniscus cell phenotype. His post-graduate plans include starting a Clinical Chemistry Fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, in July 2022.