Kristine is working toward a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. She just completed her M.S. in mechanical engineering at CSU. Her thesis work includes mechanical testing of rabbit menisci from both a traumatic ACL tear model and surgical ACL transaction model. This work is for an ongoing project looking at the progression of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Kristine is doing initial failure testing to transition the ACL tear model from rabbits to sheep. She will graduate in May 2014.

Ben received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Tri-State University in 2009. Since that time, Ben has been studying under the guidance of Dr. Christian Puttlitz in research areas including spinal implant design as well as spinal finite element modeling. Ben is currently a Ph.D. candidate working on a NASA-funded grant to investigate the role of microgravity on bone loss and fracture healing.

Livia graduated in Veterinary Medicine at Lavras Federal University in Brazil in 2010. She completed an equine internal medicine internship in 2011 at Minas Gerais Federal University in Brazil, where she also completed her master’s degree in 2012. In her master’s research, Livia compared the effects of two different protocols for mesenchymal stem cell isolation and application in equine-induced desmitis. Currently, Livia is engaged in a Ph.D. program at CSU with Dr. Frisbie as her advisor. Her project involves the study of the protective effects of freeze-dried platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and insulin receptor antagonist protein (IRAP) in synovial tissues and tendon explants under an inflammatory state, in vitro.

Dr. Brad Nelson recently started in a Ph.D. program at the ORC. Brad graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a D.V.M. in 2009, and then completed an equine internship in surgery and medicine at Washington State University, followed by a residency in large animal surgery at CSU. He also received a master’s degree in clinical sciences as part of the residency program. Dr. Nelson’s Ph.D. research will focus on articular cartilage imaging, specifically in the use of contrast enhanced computed tomography as a method to improve the diagnosis of articular cartilage injury. Brad replaced Dr. Moorman as the staff veterinarian at the ORC.

​Hannah is currently working towards a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. Her major area of study is the attachment of the meniscus of the knee to the underlying bone. Current projects include comparing structure and function characteristics of healthy and osteoarthritic meniscal insertions using second harmonic generation microscopy and developing a tissue engineered artificial meniscal insertion. She will graduate in May 2016.

Nicole graduated in December of 2012 with a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Kettering University in Flint, Mich. Through Kettering’s co-operative education program, Nicole worked for three-and-a-half years as a research assistant in the Bone and Joint Center of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Her work culminated in an undergraduate thesis on the dynamic in-vivo joint motion of the cervical spine following fusion and arthroplasty. Continuing to research spine biomechanics at CSU, Nicole now works under Dr. Christian Puttlitz in the ORC as a Ph.D. student in the School of Biomedical Engineering.

Suwimol graduated from Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand, and received her B.Sc. in biology in 2000 and her M.Sc. in physiology in 2003. She spent the next four years as an instructor in the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Suwimol joined the ORC in 2009 under a scholarship from The Royal Thai Government and is currently working on a Ph.D. under Dr. John Kisiday. Her research focus is the effect of dexamethasone concentration and duration of exposure on chondrogenic differentiation of equine bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. She also studies the effect of inflammatory cytokine IL-1β on chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells in the presence or absence of dexamethasone and the relationship between inflammation, oxidative stress, and chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells in an agarose-gel culture system.

Ben joined Dr. Haut Donahue’s lab in Fall 2012 as a Ph.D. student. His main research area is muscle mechanics. His current project is the development of a finite element model of skeletal muscle to predict intramuscular pressure. This goal of this project is cooperation with a clinical tool to determine muscle force. He is also working on experimental testing of muscle as a non-linear viscoelastic material.