Due to the need for social distancing the Mizzou Musculoskeletal Research Training Program Symposium will be presented virtually this year. The keynote lecture will be presented via Zoom and graphical abstracts will be posted on this website throughout June and July. If you wish to receive an invitation to the keynote lecture via email, please contact bakerbre@health.missouri.edu.
The first annual symposium of the Mizzou Musculoskeletal Research Training Program will feature graphical abstracts and talks from faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students engaged in musculoskeletal research at multiple institutions in the region, as well as a keynote Zoom lecture from Dr. Erica L. Scheller, DDS, PhD at 12:00pm on Monday, June 22nd.
To register or for additional information email bakerbre@health.missouri.edu. You will receive invitations to the Zoom keynote lecture and to view the graphical abstracts via email.
If you would like more information about the Mizzou Musculoskeletal Research Training Program, please contact Dr. Dana Duren.
Graphical Abstracts
Review the Graphical Abstracts presented at the 2020 Mizzou Musculoskeletal Symposium.
Conference Presenters
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Erica L. Scheller, DDS, PhD leads the Neuroskeletal Biology Laboratory in the Musculoskeletal Research Center and Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases at Washington University. Dr. Scheller has a research background that spans the fields of bone biology, neurobiology, and integrated physiology. She completed a dual DDS/PhD training program at the University of Michigan in 2011, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Ormond MacDougald, prior to transitioning to Washington University in 2015. Dr. Scheller has a directed interest in leveraging high-resolution imaging and other innovative techniques to understand neural regulation of the skeletal microenvironment.
Watch the keynote presentation
Department of Physical Therapy Faculty Spotlight
Trent M. Guess, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Physical Therapy and Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. He holds the HealthSouth Professorship at Missouri and is the founding Director of the Mizzou Motion Analysis Center. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas and his area of expertise is in musculoskeletal biomechanics. His research focus combines experimental and computational methods in movement analysis with an emphasis on knee loading and functional assessment.
Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences Faculty Spotlight
Dr. Ward, PhD studies the evolution of apes and early hominins, focusing on the fossil record from East and South Africa, primarily Kenya. She co-leads NSF-funded paleontological fieldwork project in Kenya searching for fossil evidence of early hominins and their environments. She takes a mechanical approach to the interpretation of the postcranial skeleton, and uses these principles to reconstruct the behavior of extinct animals. Dr. Ward uses this information to interpret the evolution of body shape and locomotion in ape and human evolution. She is also involved in collaborative work involving muscle physiology, finite element modelling and 3D morphometrics exploring the function and evolution of the early hominin mandible and the evolution of hominin diets.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Spotlight
Dr. Theodore Choma, MD has participated in many clinical and basic science medical studies over his career. He was trained originally as a biomechanical engineer, with degrees from Lehigh University and Virginia Tech before receiving his MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School. He has published studies on the use of lasers to effect tissue welding, the mechanics of spinal fixation (especially in the osteoporotic spine), the challenges of treating the aging spine, and the physiology of aging discs.
