A South Dakota Mines research
team has developed technology – and established a subsequent startup
company – that could be a key to finding a cure for osteoarthritis.
Scott Wood, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the NanoScience and NanoEngineering Program,
and Ph.D. student Ram Saraswat lead the research and development of the
nanoscience technology now utilized by their startup, CellField
Technologies. “We’re excited about the potential future of the
technology and the company,” Wood says. “We hope it will be a
gamechanger in osteoarthritis research.”
Osteoarthritis, sometimes called degenerative joint disease, is the
most common form of arthritis. Most often it occurs in the hands, hips
and knees. Osteoarthritis develops when the cartilage within a joint
begins to break down, causing pain, stiffness and swelling. More than
32.5 million adults in the United States suffer from osteoarthritis, and
current treatments offer little more than temporary pain control, Wood
says.
Wood says that for hundreds of years, doctors have considered...