Space and Equipment

Current laboratory space consists of a fully equipped cadaver dissection and specimen preparation room, two mechanical testing rooms, machine shop facilities, a dry lab, a microscope/dark room, adjoining office space for residents and students, with conference area, and computer resources. The Center's surgical and specimen preparation facilities are located adjacent to the willed body program's morgue allowing for easy and timely acquisition of cadaveric specimens. A dedicated workspace and computer in the Center are reserved for the orthopedic resident's use while on research rotation. The Harrington Laboratory for Molecular Orthopedics, located near by and directed by Jinxi Wang, MD, PhD, is dedicated to the study of bone biology. In total, over 4000 ft2 of laboratory space is dedicated to orthopedic research and available to support resident and faculty research activities.

The following equipment and resources are located in the Orthopedic Research Center:

Testing and Measurement

• Computer Based Measurement and Data Acquisition System
  • LabView software
  • National Instruments A/D card
  • Microstrain DVRT transducers
  • Tekscan realtime pressure measurement system
• Miniture materials testing machine (for loads up to 1 kg)
• MTS 858 minibionix biaxial testing machine with two additional rotary hydraulic actuators for multiaxial spine testing.
• Custom Hip Simulator fixture for augmentation of the MTS Machine capabilities.
• Instron 8800 axial materials testing machine.
• MicroScribe 3D mechanical digitization system
• Optotrak motion tracking system (shared resource)
• Messphysik Videoextensometer

Computer Modeling, Simulation

• Two Finite Element and Modeling Workstations (Dual processor)
• Software
  • Abaqus FEA software for analysis.
  • Abaqus FEA software for analysis.
  • MSC Patran CAE software for modeling and meshing.
  • Autocad Inventor for CAD
  • Amira software for 3D reconstruction of CT and MRI images
  • True Grid software for FEA meshing

Mechanical

• General shop equipment and tools including: drill presses (3), Bridgeport mill with digital readout, grinder, bandsaws (2), lathe, etc.
• Combination Mill and Drill Press dedicated to bone specimen preparation.

Photography

• Nikon Digital Camera
• Leitz Reprovit copy camera setup
• Leitz Orthoplux research microscope with camera
• Leitz short arc power supply for fluorescence photography
• Wild dissecting microscope compatible with Ortholux camera

Radiology

• Hewlett Packard Faxitron XRay System
• Fluoroscan Mini C-arm with digital storage

Histology

• Leitz precision saw microtome
• Bueler low speed polisher/grinder
• Buehler low speed saw
• Bronwill thin sectioning machine
• Tissue Processor
• Specimen Embedding Center
• Motorized Electronic Microtome
• Chemical Fumes Hood

Arthroscopy

• Concept Intra Arc Drive System
• Concept Intra Vision light source
• Concept Intra Vision video camera control
• Circon video monitor

Tissue culture and molecular research

• Hereaus triple gas incubator
• Kahn electrobalance
• Nikon inverted microscope
• Beckman Centrifuge
• CO2 Incubators (Two)
• Biosaftey Cabinet
• Realtime PCR
• Zeiss Microscope with Digital Image Processing

Research Support

• Library and Research Journal Collection
• Additional computers for presentation and imaging
• Freezers(5) and Refrigerator for Cadaveric Specimen Storage
• Freezer (40 deg) and refrigerator for histology and cell storage.

Additional Facilities Available on the KUMC Campus to Support Resident and Faculty Research

• A fully accredited Laboratory Animal Resource facility is available to house research animals, provide assistance during surgeries, and to administer anesthesia. Complete animal operating suites are state of the art.
• Cadavers (preserved or unpreserved) are readily available through the Willed Body Program administered by the Department of Anatomy.
• Powerful MRI imaging is available at our Hoglund Brain Imaging Facility for cadaveric specimens (3T) or small animals (9.4 T).
• Electron Microscopy
• Confocal Microscopy
• DEXA for bone densitometry
• Fully equipped gait laboratory (Vicon 512 system with force plates)

In addition to the above, all of the support services conventionally available at a major research university are fully available to support resident research.