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Dr. Murray's research focuses on the stimulation of healing of tissues inside joints, particularly the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus of the knee. Treatment of these injuries remains one of the most challenging problems facing orthopedic science today. These tissues have minimal intrinsic ability to repair or regenerate in the human and thus injuries of these tissues are often treated by excision of the injured tissue and sometimes replacement with autograft or allograft tissue. Unfortunately, these procedures lead to a high rate of premature osteoarthritis of the knee (as high as 80% at 14 years after an ACL tear).
Dr. Murray's lab studies the regenerative potential of the native tissues after injury, and have found that the cells in each of these tissues have great potential for proliferation, extra-cellular matrix production and migration if provided with the appropriate environment. The Murray lab has identified the premature loss of fibrin clot (secondary to the presence of plasmin in the synovial fluid) as the likely etiology of the failure of these tissues to heal. Work continues to focus on development of a substitute for fibrin clot, which allows healing of tissues within the joint to proceed the way healing of tissues outside the joint can.
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