The 2nd Herbert Fleisch workshop, sponsored by the International Bone and Mineral Society, was held in Bruges, Belgium February 28-March 1. Nicholas presented his research on “Monitoring exercise and diet-induced changes in tibial blood perfusion with laser doppler flowmetry in mice” [Abstract here].  Both Jacque and Nicholas attended, and had a great time networking and checking out the beautiful city of Bruges!

From the meeting report: “The second Herbert Fleisch Workshop was held in the beautiful city of Brugge, Belgium, on 28 February to 1 March, 2016. After the success of the first workshop, held also in Brugge in 2014, the IBMS board decided to support the repeat event as one that could be of great benefit to young investigators—PhD students, early postdoctoral researchers and early faculty members. This target audience was effectively reached, with 53% of the participants being younger than 35 and even up to 84% being below 45 years of age.”

The OML continued to grow in 2015. We did some great research, gave some awe-spiring presentations, and added a few new lab members!

• April:
  • Carolyn Stolfi presented her research at the Human Movement Science and Biomechanics Research Symposium at UNC.
• May:
  • Congratulations to Kyle and Curtis, who both graduated! Curtis graduated with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Kyle with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering (Honors) and Mechanical Engineering
• June:
  • Jon Doering joined the lab as a graduate student researcher. He is co-mentored by Greg Sawicki
  • OML presented to the Imhotep Academy, a group of middle schoolers interested in STEM. Check it out!
• August:
  • Jacque gave an invited talk on stroke research at the 5th Annual Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences Training Day at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL
  • Jon presented a podium talk of his research at the American Society of Biomechanics conference in Colombus, OH.
  • Carolyn presented a poster detailing her research at the American Society of Biomechanics conference in Colombus, OH. 
• September:
  • The OML participated in SciREN. Check out some photos of us in action!
  • Elizabeth Easter joined the lab and was awarded an NC State Office of Undergraduate Research grant for her project studying the changes in bone blood flow using Laser Doppler Flowmetry.
  • Austin Murray was one of three students selected as an Abrams Scholar. This is his second year to be given the award!
  • Harsha Pinnamaraju joined the lab as an undergraduate research assistant, and was selected as an Abrams Scholar.
• October:
  • Nicholas Hanne, Amir Robe, and Andy Steward all presented posters at the Southeast Biomedical Engineering Society Regional Conference in Raleigh, NC
  • Andy Steward presented a poster at the 17th Annual Conference of the North Carolina Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (NCTERMS) in Winston Salem, NC
  • Jacque teamed up with Dr. Simon Roe from the NC State Vet School to give a presentation to local high school students as part of the NC State Engineering Bits and Bytes day.  Of course we also took plenty of pictures! 
• November:
  • OML joined the Science Explorers Club at Dillard Drive Middle School to talk about bone function and development. Many thanks to Joann Blumenfeld, whom we met through SciREN, for inviting us.

Also this year:

• Dr. Cole became Co-Investigator on a grant from the William R. Kenan Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology, and Science
• The OML receives a seed grant from the UNC/NCSU Rehabilitation Engineering Core for the neonatal brachial plexus injury project (Dr. Cole is co-PI with Dr. Kate Saul and Dr. Ted Bateman)
• Dr. Cole was awarded a K12 grant through the Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Engineering Research Career Development Program (IREK12) for the stroke project

Obligatory lab photo!

Jacque teamed up with Dr. Simon Roe from the NC State Vet School to give a presentation to local high school students as part of the NC State Engineering Bits and Bytes Day. They talked about bone material properties and how we can potentially improve treatment options for injury. The students experimented with breaking chalk and Popsicle sticks, and also worked with external fixators to determine effective configurations for bone healing.

 

The OML participated in SciREN, which aims to connect local STEM researchers and educators to foster the dissemination of current research and ultimately enhance the science literacy of today’s youth. Nicholas wrote an amazing lesson plan focusing on the structure and function of bone, including studying material properties, Wolff’s Law, and comparative bone anatomy of various animals.

If you’re interested in checking out the lesson, you can find it here: Structure and Function of Bone Activity. Any feedback would be very much appreciated, please email Stephanie or Nicholas.

Here are some photos of us in action!

Nicholas explains bone mechanics to some local students

Nicholas tells some local teachers about our lesson plan.

Several labs in the BME Department, including OML, gave lab tours to middle school students participating in the IMHOTEP program at NC State. 

From left to right: Stephanie, Andy, Carolyn, Nicholas and Jacque all helped out

Jacque posing with Pam Gilchrist, who runs the IMHOTEP program

 

 

Andy explaining to the students how the Materials Testing System works, and showing it off with some chicken bones

Nicholas talks about our lab’s research

Carolyn points out where the scapula is on a skeleton. The scapular is important in her research project, NBPI.

2014 was a big year for the OML! The year began with Jacque having her son, Theo, in January. Other notable events include Nicholas Hanne and Carolyn Stolfi joining the lab as graduate research assistants, Curtis Hudson, Austin Murray and Amir Robe joining as undergraduate research assistants, and Dr. Andy Steward joining as a postodoctoral research scholar.

Congratulations to Austin Murray, who was selected as an Abrams Scholar in the BME Department!

Congratulations also to Jacque, who was selected to participate in the ORS/OREF/AAOS New Investigator Workshop for Clinical, Translational, and Basic Science Research in Chicago, IL (16-17 May). In addition, Jacque became Co-Investigator on a grant from the NCSU Research Innovation Seed Funding (RISF) Program

Our rapidly-growing lab group

2013 marks the founding of the OML. In August, Jacque joined the faculty at NC State. Later that year, Stephanie joined as Lab Manager Extraordinaire. Kyle and Hui also joined the labs.