Peter Torzilli, PhD

Appointments

Senior Scientist and Director, Laboratory for Soft Tissue Research, Research Division, Hospital for Special Surgery

Professor of Applied Biomechanics in Orthopaedic Surgery, Department of Orthopaedics, Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Associate Professor, Graduate Faculty, Physiology, Biophysics, and System Biology Program, Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Grant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Co-Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering, City College School of Engineering

Adjunct Professor, The Graduate School and University Center’s Ph.D. Program in Engineering, City College School of Engineering

Adjunct Full Professor, Department of Physics, Fordham University

 

Selected Publications

Torzilli, P.A., Grigiene, R., Borrelli, J. and Helfet, D.L. (1999) Effect of Impact Load on Articular Cartilage: Cell Metabolism and Viability, and Matrix Water Content. Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 121:433-441.

Camacho, N. P., West, P., Torzilli, P. A., and Mendelsohn, R.. (2001) FTIR Microscopic Imaging of Collagen and Proteoglycan in Bovine Cartilage. Biopolymers, 62: 1-8.

Chen, C-T, Bhargava, M.., Lin, P. and Torzilli, P.A.. (2003) Time, Stress, and Location Dependent Chondrocyte Death and Collagen Damage in Cyclically Loaded Articular Cartilage. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 21:888-898.

Lucchinetti, E., Bhargava, M.M. and Torzilli, P.A. (2004) The Effect of Mechanical Load on the Expression of the Integrin Subunits a5 and ß1 in Chondrocytes from Mature and Immature Cartilage Explants. Cell and Tissue Research, 315:385-391.

Lin, P.M., Chen, C-T. and Torzilli, P.A. (2004) Increased Stromelysin-1 (MMP-3) and Proteoglycan Degradation (3B3- and 7D4) in Cyclically Load-Injured Articular Cartilage. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 12:485-496.

For more publications, please see the PubMed listing.  

Research Description

Mechanobiology, Tissue Engineering and Molecular Engineering of Musculoskeletal Soft Tissues

Major areas of research are in the study of cell and tissue biology, function and biomechanics of articular cartilage in health and disease; the enzyme mechanokinetics of collagen catalysis; the engineering of biocompatible materials for repair and replacement of damaged tissues; and the design of novel approaches at the molecular level to enhance soft tissue repair and function. Basic and applied research is performed at the molecular, cellular, tissue and whole joint levels. Of particular interest are questions concerning how cells respond to injury or disease (metabolism); how cellular response effects the matrix components (composition and arrangement); how these changes influence the tissue's physical performance (biomechanical properties); how we can repair and restructure the tissue's damaged microstructure (termed tissue engineering) through normal biological pathways (cellular engineering) or synthetic pathways (molecular engineering); how natural and synthetic materials can be combined to produce biocompatible tissue constructs (biomaterials); how genetically engineered cells (gene therapy) can be used to repair damaged tissues; and how cells and biologically compatible biomaterials can be combined to produce a viable replacement for damaged tissues.