Movers & Shakers
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BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING RESEARCHER EXPLORES EARLY DETECTION OF OSTEOARTHRITIS
multi-year study involving a focus group. She and her team will track 72 individuals with ACL deficiencies and 72 without, utilizing dual fluoroscopy and MRI to create a 3D construction or image of the knee. “If we can capture how quickly the degeneration is occurring, we can identify people as high versus lower risk,” Dr. Ronsky says. Then, after therapeutic tech- niques are targeted and evaluated, “the right treatment at the right time” is more likely. Dr. Ronsky is a two-time Summit Award recipient. In 2005, she and Nigel Shrive, P.Eng., PhD, FEC, FGC (Hon.) — who’s mentioned in another Movers & Shak- ers item in this PEG — represented a team when they accepted the Alberta Innovation Fund Research Excel- lence Award. In 2006, she was presented the Excel- lence in Education Award. KNEES AND NEEDS Janet Ronsky, P.Eng., PhD, (centre) is searching for markers to detect the future onset of osteoarthritis after knee injuries. With her is fellow researcher Steven Boyd, P.Eng., PhD, and an unidentified person posing as a patient on the treadmill.
Janet Ronsky, P.Eng., PhD , a researcher at the Uni- versity of Calgary ’s Schulich School of Engineering, is embarking on a study that could revolutionize the after- injury treatment of knee joints. Using dual-fluoroscopy — a type of real-time X-ray imaging — Dr. Ronsky is looking for a marker in the human body to help predict the risk of early onset of osteoarthritis after a trauma. Statistics Canada has found that osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability, affecting more than 10 per cent of Canadians over 15. A rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a major risk factor for onset and devel- opment of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. By monitoring for changes in the body immediately after impact, the new technique would help diagnose patients before it’s too late for effective treatment. Currently, the most commonly used X-ray tech- nology works only when actual physical breakdown of cartilage can be viewed. By then, chances of changing the progression of the disease are slim. Dr. Ronsky recently received close to $600,000 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for a
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