Matthew B Fisher
North Carolina State University, NC·Biomedical Engineering
Knee injuries are rising fast among children and teenagers. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), a band that keeps the shin bone from sliding forward under the thigh bone, is torn by more than 250,000 people in the U.S.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Engineering
Physiology
- Topics
anterior cruciate ligament
ACL reconstruction
pediatric sports injuries
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Aug 2030
What they work on
- Determine how ACL reconstruction technique (epiphyseal, complete transphyseal or partial transphyseal, differing in how they cross the bone's growth plate) affects knee stability and joint degeneration at different stages of skeletal maturity, using a growing pig model.
- Test whether, after a partial tear of the anteromedial or posterolateral ACL bundle, a partial or complete reconstruction better restores joint stability and limits joint degeneration in growing pig knees.
- Determine how process variables in 3D Melt Blowing and Solution Blowing, fiber-spinning methods from nonwovens manufacturing, control the structure and mechanical properties of full-sized meniscus scaffolds made of biopolymers and meniscus-derived matrix.
- Test whether adding zone-specific meniscus-derived extracellular matrix (mECM, the natural material around meniscus cells) to scaffolds improves cell infiltration, tissue formation and integration with surrounding meniscus.
- Test whether scaffolds with meniscus-matched mechanics and appropriate mECM reduce cartilage degeneration after partial meniscectomy, the surgical removal of part of the meniscus, in an animal model.
- Assess how the timing of natural puberty onset, and early induced puberty with a rise in estrogen, change the size and function of ACL bundles throughout adolescence.
- Measure how cyclic sex hormone levels across the estrus cycle change ACL bundle size and function, and test whether stabilizing hormone levels reduces those changes.
More about the research
each year. The meniscus, a rubbery cushion of cartilage-like tissue in the knee, is the most commonly injured knee structure. Both injuries can lead to long-term joint wear, or degeneration. This research asks how the growing knee works, why it fails, and how to repair it better. Three projects combine mechanical testing, animal models (chiefly pigs) and tissue engineering.
Why it matters
Children and teens who tear the ACL or meniscus face high re-injury rates and a risk of arthritis-like joint wear later in life. Comparing ACL surgeries in growing knees could help surgeons choose techniques suited to each patient's age and injury. Linking hormones to ACL changes could suggest clinical trials to lower injury risk in adolescent girls. Meniscus scaffolds that match native tissue could lead to treatments for meniscus tears and, later, for tendons, ligaments and spinal discs.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Graft Remodeling and Joint Degeneration after ACL Reconstruction in the Growing Knee Joint
NIH · Sep 2025 – Aug 2030
Role of Hormones on Bundle-Specific ACL Function in the Growing Knee Joint
NIH · May 2018 – Apr 2029
Using 3D Nonwovens Fabrication to Engineer Region-Specific Extracellular Matrix Structure and Bioactivity of the Knee Meniscus
NIH · Jul 2021 – Jun 2027
Closest labs
Nathaniel Dyment
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Biomedical Engineering
Measure how long the hedgehog pathway activator SAG is released from BiLDS scaffolds and whether it stays biologically active, using an in vitro release study.
Guillaume Madelin
New York University, NY·Biomedical Engineering
Build a proton/sodium (1H/23Na) multichannel radiofrequency coil and optimize simultaneous multinuclear MR fingerprinting for bilateral breast MRI at 3 tesla, including Dixon water/fat and contrast-enhanced scans.
Ferenc Toth
University of Minnesota, MN·Medicine & Clinical Research
Relate the severity of blood-supply injury in the femoral trochlear growth cartilage to the formation and progression of early OCD lesions, using a pig model.
The school
North Carolina State University: 40 labs on PI Pages, $717M a year on research, 603 research doctorates a year.
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