Melissa A. Grunlan, Ph.D.

Dr. Melissa Grunlan is developing synthetic plugs for patients suffering from chronic knee pain or disabilities that would avoid total knee replacements.

Osteochondral defects (OCDs) can cause damage to cartilage and underlying bone, leading to chronic pain and loss of joint function. Depending on the extent of damage, individuals must undergo surgical treatment, the most extensive being total knee replacement, which over 800,000 Americans undergo each year.

Dr. Melissa Grunlan, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, received a grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease, a suborganization of the National Institutes of Health, to develop synthetic cartilage-capped regenerative osteochondral plugs (CC-ROPs) — a potential off-the-shelf surgical device to treat OCDs and avoid total knee replacement… Continue reading.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Melissa A. Grunlan, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M Universtiy, to its College of Fellows. Dr. Grunlan was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows for outstanding contributions for the development of polymeric biomaterials for medical devices and regenerative engineering scaffolds.