Research
Welcome to the home page of the West Virginia University Musculoskeletal Research Laboratory (MRL). As a clinical department doing cutting edge research in our field of medicine we have developed two pillars of our research: clinical and basic science programs. Focusing our passion for our patients into the basic science arena allows us to successfully create state of the art translational research.
Our clinical program has a digitally controlled patient reported outcomes collection process. This allows us to monitor our clinical outcomes with a robust data analytics platform to determine how our patients are doing. We currently have several projects running in adult reconstruction (robotic assisted joint replacements, periprosthetic joint infections), amputee care, DVT prevention, dysphagia after cervical spine surgery, spine infections, cervical disc replacement, total shoulder replacements, pediatric casting techniques, pediatric pain medication management, clinic based hand surgery, weight bearing CT analysis for foot and ankle surgery, and immunophenotyping in cancer patients. We have engaged clinical research coordinators, statistical support, collaboration with the health system enterprise analytics team, and even industry partners to bring high-level clinical projects to full execution. This type of precise outcomes based clinical research creates opportunities to investigate how we can improve our patients’ lives. The basic science research program is led by five principal investigators concentrating on tissue engineering, nanotechnology, infection, inflammation, biofilms, immunophenotyping, amputee care, and cancer. Over the past three years we have a total of 22 grants, of which 13 are federal with the rest being industry funding, foundation grants, and program/institutional funding. The MRL has created patented technology in several fields and currently has had a spin out company developed from the research done here at the Health sciences. We have the capabilities to perform in-vitro, in-vivo, and translational research using our scientific expertise and facilities to make important strides on the understanding of these disease states and how better to treat them. We have a presence across many research programs at WVU including Microbiology, Immunology, Exercise Physiology, Cancer Cell Biology, Neuroscience, Engineering, Pharmacology, and others.
The Musculoskeletal Research Laboratory is always looking for further collaboration, more students to train, and exciting opportunities. For information concerning research and educational opportunities, please contact us.
Matthew Dietz, MD
Chair and Associate Professor
Department of Orthopaedics
West Virginia University