Research | Shoulder Arthroplasty Salt Lake City | Shoulder Surgery Salt Lake City

The Orthopaedic Research Laboratory

At the University of Utah Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Fellowship, we have the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of scientists. These include cell biologists, biomechanists, and health economists. Our department has a thriving research section, producing hundreds of publications each year. The laboratory has 6000 square feet of space, with multiple industrial robots, optical tracking systems, instron testing machines, and five 3D printers including an industrial 3D printer that can print in metal. In addition, we have a separate motion analysis laboratory with both optical tracking systems and a custom high-speed dual fluoroscopy system for in vivo motion capture of osseous motion. The combination of the expertise and experience of our research team with the state-of-the-art equipment available allows trainees to really accomplish quality research in a limited period of time.

Shoulder Arthroplasty Biomechanics: In collaboration with Heath Henninger, PhD, our research team has been working to understand shoulder arthroplasty biomechanics. These projects leverage our library of motion profiles from biplane fluoroscopy, which allows us to test the bone motion obtained after a shoulder arthroplasty instead of normal motion. These projects use our hexapod industrial robot, which contains actuators for all of the major muscle groups, which are driven by machine learning algorithms to produce the proper motion, while forces within the joint are measured with a six degree-of-freedom load cell.

https://faculty.utah.edu/u0445939-HEATH_BYRON_HENNINGER/hm/index.hml

Rotator Cuff Healing: In collaboration with Mick Jurynec, PhD, our research team has been working with both rat and mouse rotator cuff repair models. These animal models allow modification of the biochemical milieu of the repair with subsequent measurement of animal activity, biomechanical repair strength, histologic grading, and RNA expression.

https://www.juryneclab.org

Shoulder Surgery Outcomes: In collaboration with Amy Cizid, PhD, our research team has been working through our databases of patient-reported outcomes. This work leverages our extensive experience with the NIH PROMIS system, of which the University of Utah was an early adopter.