What’s New at UVA Orthopaedics?

By D. Nicole Deal, MD
UVA Orthopaedics Department

We are very pleased to announce that George Christ, PhD has joined us this fall as Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopaedic Surgery and Director of Basic Science and Translational Research for Orthopaedic Surgery.

For the past decade, Dr. Christ has been a professor in the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He has broad research interests in muscle physiology, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, intercellular communication, the role of smooth muscle in the function and dysfunction of visceral and vascular tissues, and bladder regeneration, and he has published over 200 articles and book chapters and edited two books in these areas.

Dr. Christ also has a wealth of leadership experience in his institution, nationally and internationally, as he has served on numerous NIH and other study sections, expert panels, organizing committees, etc, and served in many roles for journals and national and international societies.

Dr. Christ has a long track record dealing wih federal and other funding and has recently been very active in the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM), particularly with regard to his work in engineered skeletal muscle for injury repair. All of these efforts have involved successful multidisciplinary collaborations focused on translational applications. He is also currently the PI of an NIH T32 training grant in translational regenerative medicine.

Dr. Christ's translational activities have resulted in a number of awarded patents, involvement in FDA approval for two gene therapy clinical trials for benign smooth muscle dysfunctions, and current progress toward FDA approval for his team's Tissue Engineered Muscle Repair (TEMR) technology (with an IND and initiation of a pilot clinical trial anticipated in late 2015). He has also been involved with start-up companies at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Wake Forest, and last year he was awarded the inaugural Wake Forest Innovation Award.