Functional Orthopedics Research and Modeling Laboratory

The Functional Orthopedics Research and Modeling Laboratory (FORM Lab) consists of a multidisciplinary team of experimental and computational researchers, with the overarching purpose of investigating multiscale structural, mechanical, and biochemical properties of musculoskeletal joints, in the context of joint biomechanical function. 

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Led by Catherine Yuh, PhD and Steven Mell, PhD, who lead the experimental and computational research branches respectively, we specialize in both whole joint and tissue-scale analyses, towards improving the understanding of how “form meets function”, by specifically investigating how joint morphology (shape) relates to abnormal joint contact conditions that incur tissue damage in musculoskeletal disorders, such as femoroacetabular impingement syndrome and osteoarthritis. 

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As a team, our goal is to implement a wide variety of research tools towards developing and validating high-throughput parametrically-driven computational models that are capable of simulating in vivo joint contact from loading and motion, which are known to play a role in both joint health and pathology.

The FORM Lab primarily focuses on hip and knee conditions, but is also generally “joint-agnostic” in that we apply our multidisciplinary workflows to study various articulating joints through collaborations with the Movement and Applied Rehabilitation Science (MARS) Laboratory (PI: Malloy, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation), as well as with orthopedic surgeons in Sports Medicine, Cartilage Restoration, Adult Reconstruction, and Spine. 

Together, this research is part of a larger-scale collaborative effort to establish a platform of multimodal approaches, including tissue characterization, imaging, motion analysis, and computational simulation, to study the multifaceted etiology of pre-arthritic joint conditions, with an overarching goal of identifying modifiable factors associated with long-term osteoarthritis development.

Technology & instrumentation

Collaborators

• Jorge Chahla – Associate Professor, Director of Biomechanics Research
• Deborah Hall – Assistant Professor, Director of the Implant Retrieval Laboratory
• Philip Malloy – Assistant Professor, Movement and Applied Rehabilitation Science (MARS) Laboratory
• John Martin – Assistant Professor, Director of the Chicago Artificial Musculoskeletal Intelligence Lab
• Shane Nho – Associate Professor, Section Head of Young Adult Hip Surgery
• Cecilia Pascual-Garrido – Associate Professor, Adult Reconstruction- Adolescent and Hip Orthopedic Surgeon at Washington University
• Dino Samartzis – Professor, Director International Spine Research and Innovation Initiative (ISRII)
• Scott Simmons – Mathematics & Computer Science Department Chair at Drury University
• Adam Yanke – Associate Professor, Co-Director Cartilage Restoration Center at Rush

Publications

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• Yuh C, Malloy P, Mell SP, et al. Tissue expression in surgically retrieved cam deformity and capsule from patient hips with Cam-type Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome. Published online July 3, 2024:2024.07.02.24309871. doi:10.1101/2024.07.02.24309871
• Mell SP, Hornung AL, Yuh C, Samartzis D. Virtual Clinical Trials - Implications of Computer Simulations and Artificial Intelligence for Musculoskeletal Research. JBJS. Published online 2024:10.2106/JBJS.23.01236. doi:10.2106/JBJS.23.01236
• Yuh C, Malloy P, Kazi O, Chahla J, Nho SJ, Mell SP. Comparison Of Proximal Femur Shape in Patients with Cam-type Femoroacetabular Impingement Before and After Hip Arthroscopic Surgery: A Statistical Shape Modeling Study. In: Proceedings of the Orthopaedic Research Society 2024. ; 2024.
• Yuh C, Wimmer MA. Chapter 4 - Cartilage tribology and friction coefficient. In: Nochehdehi AR, Nemavhola F, Thomas S, Maria HJ, eds. Cartilage Tissue and Knee Joint Biomechanics. Academic Press; 2024:37-45. doi:10.1016/B978-0-323-90597-8.00008-6
• Mell SP, Yuh C, Nagel T, Chubinskaya S, Lundberg HJ, Wimmer MA. Development of a computational-experimental framework for enhanced mechanical characterization and cross-species comparison of the articular cartilage superficial zone. Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering. 2023;0(0):1-5. doi:10.1080/10255842.2023.2255712
• Yuh C, Liu S, Hall DJ, et al. FTIR-I Chemical Mapping of Articular Cartilage as a Function of Tissue Degeneration - A Preliminary Study. In: Transactions of the Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society. 2022.
• Yuh C, Laurent MP, Espinosa-Marzal RM, Chubinskaya S, Wimmer MA. Transient stiffening of cartilage during joint articulation: A microindentation study. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. 2021;113:104-113. doi:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2020.104113
• Yuh C, O’Bryan CS, Angelini TE, Wimmer MA. Microindentation of Cartilage Before and After Articular Loading in a Bioreactor: Assessment of Length-Scale Dependency Using Two Analysis Methods. Exp Mech. 2021;61(7):1069-1080. doi:10.1007/s11340-021-00742-5
• Mell SP, Wimmer MA, Jacobs JJ, Lundberg HJ. Optimal surgical component alignment minimizes TKR wear - An in silico study with nine alignment parameters. J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2022;125:104939. doi:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2021.104939
• Mell SP, Wimmer MA, Lundberg HJ. Sensitivity of total knee replacement wear to variability in motion and load input: A parametric finite element analysis study. Journal of Orthopaedic Research. 2020;38(7):1538-1549. doi:10.1002/jor.24755
• Mell SP, Wimmer MA, Lundberg HJ. The choice of the femoral center of rotation affects material loss in total knee replacement wear testing - A parametric finite element study of ISO 14243-3. J Biomech. 2019;88:104-112. doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2019.03.027