Matt Harkey, PhD

And huge thanks to the HFH + MSU Health Sciences partnership for Affinity Group funding 💼 This retreat is proof of what’s possible when you invest in collaboration. Let’s keep the momentum going! 🚀

Special shoutout to my fellow Co-Chairs:
👏 @amandality.bsky.social – for leading the funding app + event planning
👏 Charles Day – for strong clinician buy-in at HFH
👏 Jane Manfredi – for bridging MSU Vet Med to MSK research

🙏 Thank you to:
🎤 Our bold, visionary speakers
🧠 Our engaged poster presenters
🤝 Everyone who showed up and leaned into the discussion

a man in a suit says i 'm still a little nervous on a poster for only murders in the building ALT: a man in a suit says i 'm still a little nervous on a poster for only murders in the building

I was nervous planning it—would anyone show up or engage? But it turned into one of the most inspiring days I’ve been a part of. Packed sessions, amazing speakers, and real momentum for future partnerships across clinical and academic teams at HFH + MSU. ⚡️

What. A. Day.💥

🦴The inaugural @henryfordhealth.bsky.social
+ @michiganstateu.bsky.social Musculoskeletal Research Retreat was an incredible success!

🤝~90 attendees from both institutions came together to build connections, share ideas, and spark collaboration.

➡️https://lnkd.in/eGK6VqNj

Pumped to see our team’s work on early inflammatory changes following knee surgery take center stage at #ACSM25 today! 🧠🗣️🔥

We’re showcasing how ultrasound gives us a clearer view into joint health and recovery after ACLR. 🔬🦵📈

Just getting started 💪📊
#OA #sportsmed #ACLR #ultrasound

Excited to attend the American College of Sports Medicine #ACSM25 meeting in Atlanta this week! Meet us at Booth 802 and check out how our new #pedar with lightweight #plidar technology can help advance your #sports and #biomechanics applications!

For more information, visit www.novelusa.com/pedar

🚨 Now recruiting 2 PhD students @ MSU!

Join a funded study investigating early arthritis after knee surgery using:

– 🖥️ Ultrasound imaging
– 🦵 Movement biomechanics
– 🧠 Psychological & hormonal factors

📍: East Lansing, MI
📩: harkeym1@msu.edu | hartharv@msu.edu
📸 Flyer below 👇

Excited to share our work on the small but mighty microRNA-126-3p in @naturecomms.bsky.social! We found this microRNA is elevated in four knee osteoarthritis cohorts and show in an animal model that it reduces the severity of knee osteoarthritis - at least in part via angiogenesis. rdcu.be/ebycj

Body Composition, Not Body Mass Index, Is Associated with Clinical Outcomes Following ACL Reconstruction - PubMed Body composition characteristics of higher %LM and lower %FM associated with better clinical outcomes in ACLR patients of normal BMI status, thereby elucidating a potential modifiable target to mitiga...

💡 Key takeaway: ACL rehab should focus on body composition, not BMI, to optimize long-term outcomes.

📊 Lean mass = strength & function
⚠️ Fat mass = pain & worse performance

📖 Study: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39929144/

📢 New research challenges BMI as a predictor of ACL recovery. Instead, body composition—lean vs. fat mass—better correlates with strength & function.

🔬 DXA showed:
✅ More lean mass → Stronger quads, better mobility
❌ More fat mass → Worse knee pain & performance
📉 BMI? No significant correlation.

Incidence and Risk Factors for Posttraumatic Osteoarthritis After Primary ACL Reconstruction in Pediatric Patients: A National Database Study - PubMed The incidence of PTOA diagnoses was low within 5 years after primary ACLR in patients ≤16 years old with no subsequent cartilage, meniscus, and/or revision ligament procedures. The need for subsequent...

🦵 ACLR restores stability, but timing & rehab matter! ⏳⚕️ Early surgery (<3 months) and reducing arthrofibrosis may lower PTOA risk in young athletes.

🏹 Further research is needed to optimize long-term joint health.

🔗 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39926589/

📢 Interesting study in Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine 🦵🔬: Among 16,935 pediatric ACL reconstructions, 1.6% developed PTOA within 5 years.

Key risk factors:
⚠️ Motion restoration surgery (OR = 5.0)
👶 Age ≤12 (OR = 4.8)
⏳ Delayed ACLR (OR = 1.8)
⚖️ Obesity (OR = 1.4)
⚡ Male sex (OR = 1.3)

🚨 NIH funding is at risk! 🚨

📢 Indirect cost rate changes could slow down life-saving medical research that patients depend on! ❤️🔬🧪

@aimbe-official made it easy to take action! 📩 Send a letter to Congress in under 1 minute! ⏳🏛️

🔗 Act now: aimbe.org/advocate/wri…

📢 Spread the word! #ScienceMatters

Biomedical Research Under Threat: Urge Congress to Act Now! A Friday evening plea from a concerned scientist

Thanks for this. I linked this thread in my Substack and made a script for people to use to contact their reps!

fromthescienceclass.substack.com/p/biomedical...

🚨 NIH’s indirect cost policy might not stick. 🧪

Turns out, there’s already a law preventing NIH from making these changes without congressional approval.

Hopefully there’s a good chance this IDC change won’t move forward as planned. Something to watch! 👀

🔬 NIH’s new policy to cap indirect costs at 15% is a major blow to research institutions. 🧪

💰 Less funding for operations = fewer resources for science.
⚠️ Small institutions may struggle to sustain research.
🏛️ This could impact the future of NIH-funded projects.

🔗 grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Can you improve this??

✅While wireless and traditional ultrasound showed high reliability for cartilage thickness,

❌low reliability for echo-intensity persisted, even after pixel normalization.😕

⚡This points to room for improvement in ultrasound tech!

📷Examples across scanners & normalization

🏆 Wireless ultrasound is a game-changer!

🔬 Our new study in Osteoarthritis Imaging confirms that Clarius wireless ultrasound probes accurately measure knee cartilage thickness—comparable to traditional systems.

📊 A big step toward more accessible ultrasound technology!

🔗: doi.org/10.1016/j.os...

Relationships Between the Infrapatellar Fat Pad and Patellofemoral Joint Osteoarthritis Differ With Body Mass Index and Sex Investigating the relationship between the infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) and patellofemoral joint osteoarthritis (PFJOA), split up into outcomes of structural changes and functional changes, using MRI....

Excited to share the first paper from my PhD in @kelseyhcollins.bsky.social lab where we show that IPFP images using MRI are related to pain and are different with age, obesity and sex. Collab with ⁦Richard Souza, Laura Chen, and ⁦Emma Nedley.
⁩
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🦋 Hello from AIR Labs! 🧪 We study how movement impacts knee OA after injury. Our research focuses on:

🏋️‍♂️ Biomechanics
🏃 Physical Activity
🩻 Structural Changes
📊 Early Symptoms

👍Our goal? Early detection & prevention of OA.

😁Excited to share & connect! #Ultrasound #Osteoarthritis #ACL #KneeHealth

a woman is giving a high five to another woman while another woman looks on . ALT: a woman is giving a high five to another woman while another woman looks on .

I just joined Bluesky and love the idea of these starter packs! I research early OA after ACL injuries and would love to be added to the MSK and Ortho Research pack. Thanks for organizing this!

I have started an Orthopaedic Research Starter Pack! Link: go.bsky.app/61hCir6. I am happy to add people -- comment below to be added!

Development of SSM and B-Score Process. Overview of the process to develop the statistical shape model (SSM) and B-score. Bone Line Registration: Three ultrasound images from one knee are acquired and their cartilage segmented; the bone line is then extracted from the cartilage and normalized. Statistical Shape Modeling: PCA is performed to obtain shape feature scores for each bone line. Bone Shape Scoring: Bone line shape feature scores are projected onto the ACLR vector, resulting in the B-Score. 

Adding this post to the science🧪 feed!

🚨 Ultrasound + Bone Shape = New Research! 🚨

We developed a novel B-Score 🧮 using an ultrasound-based statistical shape model 🩻 to measure femoral bone shape post-ACLR 🦵
✅ Accessible
✅ Accurate (92%!)
✅ Early detection potential
📖 LINK👉shorturl.at/lto3A

🎉 Huge congrats to Arjun Parmar for publishing his first research paper! 🎉

Arjun took lead on developing this ultrasound-based B-Score to quantify femoral bone shape post-ACLR 🦵. A major step toward accessible knee health monitoring 🚀!

👏 Well done, Arjun! #ProudAdvisor

📈Bone Shape Comparison 🦵

🔍 Ultrasound-based B-Score captures subtle but significant differences in femoral trochlear bone shape:
🟦 Healthy = Deeper trochlear groove
🟥 ACLR = Flatter groove
✨ B-Score thresholds identify these changes with 99% shape variance explained ✅.

📊 B-Score Accuracy 🎯

We validated our ultrasound-based B-Score to classify femoral bone shape post-ACLR 🦵

✅ 92% Accuracy 🏆
✅ High Sensitivity (97%) 📈
✅ Clear separation of ACLR (🔴) vs. Healthy (🔵).
B-Score = a promising tool for detecting post-ACLR bone changes early!

🚨 Ultrasound + Bone Shape = New Research! 🚨

We developed a novel B-Score 🧮 using an ultrasound-based statistical shape model 🩻 to measure femoral bone shape post-ACLR 🦵
✅ Accessible
✅ Accurate (92%!)
✅ Early detection potential
📖 Full study 👉shorturl.at/lto3A