Keynote Speakers

Talk Title: “On Originality of Ideas: Breaking Rigid Concepts of Authorship from the Perspective of the Art World”

Ana Rodríguez Castillo is an artist, art historian, art educator, and, in general, a highly inquisitive person. She received her MFA from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, where she was born and raised. After years of working in Madrid as an art educator and cultural manager, Ana moved to Lima, Peru, where she worked at the Ministry of Education in the division of Art, Culture and Physical Education and coordinated several national educational initiatives. She moved to Pittsburgh in 2016 and was employed in the History of Art and Architecture Department at the University of Pittsburgh working as the coordinator for the Collecting Knowledge Pittsburgh project and as part of the curatorial team at the university Art Gallery. Later she worked as the Arts Project Coordinator at The Frick Pittsburgh museum. Currently, she lives in Orlando, FL and works in her home studio focusing on her art practice and research. Ana arrives at her art from a very historical-based perspective and studies historical artists’ materials and techniques and the social history of colors.

In the Romantic notion of genius – be it from a philosopher, author, artist, or scientist – the most important and amazing creations and discoveries materialize in solitude or isolation. But this model rarely, if ever, occurs in reality.  All scientific discovery, artistic creation, and paradigm shifts in philosophy, art, and culture, are dependent on the interpretation and variation of what was done previously. What is critical is that the challenge of defining originality and the ownership of ideas is not limited to science. In fact, art and artists have struggled with these challenges, which is what I will focus on in this presentation. Where does creativity come from and how much does it emerge from a single individual? How original can an idea be? What determines ownership or authorship of an artwork when there have been multiple contributors? There are not straightforward answers to these questions but we should be carefully considering and reconsidering some of the rigid old-fashioned ideas and open a dialogue that acknowledges the complexities of creative work.

Talk Title: ‘Human Osteochondral-Synovium Co-Culture Model of Cartilage Degradation & Therapeutic Intervention: Relevance to Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis on Earth and in Space’

Alan Grodzinsky is the Director of MIT’s Center for Biomedical Engineering and is Professor of Biological, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering in the MIT Departments of Biological Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include the degeneration and repair of cartilage in injured and arthritic joints, cellular mechanobiology, molecular nano-mechanics, cartilage tissue engineering, and transport in tissues relevant to drug delivery and cartilage repair. He has published over 285 refereed journal articles and reviews in these fields of research. He is past President of the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) and the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS). He is on the Editorial Boards of Osteoarthritis & Cartilage and Biophysical Journal, and has been on the boards of Journal of Orthopaedic Research, Arthritis and Rheumatism, Archives Biochemistry Biophysics, and Polymer Networks and Gels. Dr. Grodzinsky is a recipient of the NIH MERIT Award, the Melville Medal of the ASME, the Borelli Award of the ASB and the Kappa Delta Award of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

ABSTRACT: Traumatic joint injuries can initiate degeneration of cartilage and other joint tissues in the presence of elevated inflammation, leading to post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Such injuries are increasingly common, especially among young women who suffer ACL and meniscus tears during sports activities. The effects of mechanical loading on cartilage degradation and the potential for tissue regeneration after injury are not well-understood, but very important to clinical rehabilitation. There are currently no disease modifying drugs for osteoarthritis, and a major challenge is the ability to achieve sustained levels of therapeutics inside a target tissue with no off-target side effects. We use in vitro organ culture models to study the beneficial effects of mechanical loading and therapeutics to inhibit tissue degradation and cell death. Parallel in vitro and animal studies are aimed at targeted tissue drug delivery. Our most recent studies involve human knee cartilage-bone-synovium cocultures on Earth and launched to the International Space Station on SpaceX-17/21, the latter to study effects of microgravity and radiation on initiation and progression of OA-like disease, and the benefits of potential therapeutics.