Marodyne :: Research Team
Clinton T. Rubin, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Rubin is a founder of Marodyne Medical, and serves as the Chief Scientific Officer of the company. He is also SUNY Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and Director of the NYSTAR Center for Advanced Technology in Medical Biotechnology.
Dr. Rubin’s work is targeted towards understanding the cellular mechanisms responsible for the growth, healing, and homeostasis of musculoskeletal tissues such as bone, cartilage, tendon, ligament and muscle, as well as the formation of adiposity (fat). More specifically, this work focuses on how biomechanical stimuli mediate these responses through the control of mesenchymal stem cell differentiation and proliferation. The clinical significance of this work is applicable to the inhibition and reversal of osteopenia, the promotion of bony ingrowth into implants, the acceleration of fracture healing, and the suppression of obesity and diabetes. Dr. Rubin has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and 50 book chapters on the use of physical stimuli in controlling physiologic processes and the musculoskeletal system.
These scientific and technology development goals are approached via interdisciplinary studies at the biochemical, molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, computational (e.g., FEM) and clinical levels. Using low-level mechanical signals, recent studies have been completed on reversing osteoporosis in children with cerebral palsy, recovering bone density in osteopenic young women, and preventing osteoporosis in post-menopausal women. Recent work has indicated that these low level mechanical signals markedly bias mesenchymal stem cell differentiation towards osteoblastogenesis (bone formation), and away from adipogenesis (fat formation). Using these signals on animal models of diet induced obesity, it is clear that these mechanical signals can suppress adiposity and simultaneously build up bone density, indicating a non-pharmacologic intervention for obesity and osteoporosis, as based on physical control of stem cell progenitors, rather than the adipocyte or osteoblast, per se. This work was featured in a New York Times article (LINK), among other world-news sources (LINKS). New data also indicates that this non-invasive technology can also help preserve postural stability, and thus reduce the susceptibility to falls.
Dr. Rubin is a fellow of the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineers, and a recipient of the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, two Kappa Delta Awards from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the John Charnley Award from the Hip Society, the Fuller Albright Award from the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research, and the Giovanni Borelli Award from the American Society of Biomechanics.
Dr. Rubin’s is currently funded by National Institutes of Health, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, private industry and the New York Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research. Dr. Rubin holds twenty-two patents, with fourteen pending, in the area of wound repair, stem cell regulation, and treatment of bone disease. Dr. Rubin is a founder of Exogen, Inc., now a subsidiary of Smith + Nephew, Inc, and Juvent, Inc., a start-up focusing on osteoporosis treatment, but no longer has any affiliation with these companies or their products.
Dr. Rubin’s research into noninvasive, non-pharmacological intervention to control osteoporosis was referenced in National Geographic’s January 2001 article about surviving space travel. His studies show that the application of extremely low level strains to animals and humans will increase bone formation, and thus may represent the much sought after “anabolic” stimulus in bone.
More about Professor Rubin at BME @ Stony Brook
Kim Luu, Ph.D., Study Director
Dr. Luu’s research focus is in the identification and characterization of stem cells for therapeutic application. Her main areas of expertise are in the control and application of adult, tissue-derived stem cells for the treatment of diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis. Dr. Luu has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and invited reviews on tissue engineering, stem cell characterization, and the role of mechanical signals in stem cell differentiation.
Dr. Luu received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Stony Brook University (State University of New York) in 2008, and did her postdoctoral training in the Diabetes Research Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In addition to her academic training, Dr. Luu has two years of biopharmaceutical industry experience in a FDA regulated laboratory at Amgen, Inc. (Bothell, WA). Currently, she is the Study Director in charge of cellular assay development at Intellicyt, Inc. (Albuquerque, NM).