Insigneo Seminar: Relaxin-2 for the treatment of Arthrofibrosis

Insigneo Seminar graphic with Ara Nazarin talk detail

Event details

Friday 19 November 2021
3:00pm

Description

We are delighted to announce our next Insigneo Seminar will be a hybrid event with Dr. Nazarian, an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Musculoskeletal Translational Innovation initiative at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), presenting on ‘Relaxin-2 for the treatment of Arthrofibrosis’ on Friday 19 November 2021. Insigneo Members please check your calendar invitations for online joining details, to request an invitation please contact info@insigneo.org. In Person venue: Alfred Denny Conference Room, Alfred Denny Building.

Bio

Dr. Nazarian is an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Musculoskeletal Translational Innovation initiative at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Currently, he serves as the Vice Chair for Research Affairs at the Carl J. Shapiro Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at BIDMC. He received his master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Boston University in 2001, his Dr. Sc. Degree in June of 2008 from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, and his Master of Clinical Medicine Degree in June of 2012 from Harvard University. His doctoral dissertation was entitled “Relative Interaction of Material and Structure in Normal and Pathologic Bone.” Dr. Nazarian has been conducting translational research for the past 20 years, focusing on address unmet medical needs in musculoskeletal health. He has published over 160 peer reviewed articles and more than 20 patents and patent applications and a co-founder of 5 startups. He currently serves as a Senior Editorial Board Member for the Journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders and serves on the Board of Consulting Editors for the Journal of Biomechanics. Most importantly, he has had the privilege to mentor over 100 undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

Title

Relaxin-2 for the treatment of Arthrofibrosis

Abstract

Frozen shoulder or “shoulder arthrofibrosis” is a painful and gradual loss of shoulder motion caused by trauma, surgical procedures, inflammation, or prolonged joint immobilization. Shoulder arthrofibrosis occurs in 9 million individuals in the United States with more than 1.6 million seeking surgical remedies each year. Current treatment options, including intra-articular corticosteroid injections, NSAIDs, and nerve blockers, provide only marginal and temporary relief of patient symptoms and do not address the underlying cause of the disease—the accumulation of fibrotic collagenous tissue. Surgical interventions are used in more severe cases, but these procedures are fraught with complications and can further aggravate symptoms. Ortholevo is developing a local injectable polymeric microparticle sustained release formulation of relaxin-2 for the treatment of shoulder arthrofibrosis. Human relaxin-2 (RLX) is a 6-kDa naturally-occurring reproductive hormone peptide that temporally downregulates collagen production and upregulates matrix metalloproteases prior to childbirth. Using this peptide therapeutic for the treatment of arthrofibrosis provides an unprecedented opportunity to treat this disease with a first of its kind therapy and a resulting paradigm shift in the treatment of shoulder arthrofibrosis.

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Email: info@insigneo.org

Telephone: +44 114 222 0158

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