Associate Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery
The McNulty Lab is working to develop strategies to prevent osteoarthritis and to promote tissue repair and regeneration following joint injury. In order to accomplish this, we are working in three main areas. 1) We are working to understand the pathways that are activated by normal and injurious mechanical loading of cartilage and meniscus and how these mechanotransduction pathways are altered during aging, injury, and tissue degeneration. A greater understanding of alterations in mechanosensitive signaling mechanisms with aging and injury will likely reveal potential targets to promote tissue repair and prevent tissue degeneration and osteoarthritis development. 2) We are developing meniscus tissue engineered constructs that will be utilized to repair and replace meniscus tissue lost due to injury and surgical resection. 3) We are focusing on the biological and biomechanical changes that occur in the joint following meniscus injury and how these may contribute to osteoarthritis development.
Appointments and Affiliations
- Associate Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery
- Associate Research Professor of Cell Biology
- Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
- Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology
- Affiliate of the Duke Regeneration Center
Contact Information
- Office Location: 355A MSRB1, Durham, NC 27710
- Email Address: alr@duke.edu
Education
- Ph.D. Duke University, 2005
Courses Taught
- PATHOL 793: Research Independent Study
- BME 792: Continuation of Graduate Independent Study
- BME 791: Graduate Independent Study
- BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
In the News
Representative Publications
- Libke, Megan L., Daniel J. Cunningham, Bridgette D. Furman, John S. Yi, Jonathan M. Brunger, Virginia B. Kraus, Farshid Guilak, Amy L. McNulty, and Steven A. Olson. “Mode of injury and level of synovitis alter inflammatory chondrocyte gene expression and associated pathways.” Sci Rep 14, no. 1 (November 21, 2024): 28917. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-71964-5.
- Fei, Kaileen, Benjamin D. Andress, A’nna M. Kelly, Dawn A. D. Chasse, and Amy L. McNulty. “Meniscus gene expression profiling of inner and outer zone meniscus tissue compared to cartilage and passaged monolayer meniscus cells.” Sci Rep 14, no. 1 (November 9, 2024): 27423. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-78580-3.
- Pawar, A., B. Anderson, B. Pourdeyhimi, A. L. McNulty, M. Fisher, and R. Shirwaiker. “3D melt blowing of Elastollan thermoplastic polyurethane for tissue engineering applications: A pilot study.” Manufacturing Letters 41 (October 1, 2024): 357–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mfglet.2024.09.043.
- Betsch, Kevin, Vianna G. Martinez, Lucas P. Lyons, J Brice Weinberg, Jocelyn R. Wittstein, and Amy L. McNulty. “Shedding light on the effects of blood on meniscus tissue: the role of mononuclear leukocytes in mediating meniscus catabolism.” Osteoarthritis Cartilage 32, no. 8 (August 2024): 938–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joca.2024.04.022.
- Zhao, Qi, Abigail Holt, Charles E. Spritzer, Louis E. DeFrate, Amy L. McNulty, and Nian Wang. “High angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) of porcine menisci: a comparison of diffusion tensor imaging and generalized q-sampling imaging.” Quant Imaging Med Surg 14, no. 4 (April 3, 2024): 2738–46. https://doi.org/10.21037/qims-23-1355.