The International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) awarded the Promising YoungScientist Award to Stefan Judex, Ph.D, an Assistant Professor in SBU’#146;sDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, on June 24.
The Society acknowledges scientific achievement and honors individuals whohave made an outstanding contribution to the field of Biomechanics biannuallyat the ISB World Congress, which is the official congress of the World Councilfor Biomechanics.
The Promising Young Scientist award recognizes those who have conducted exceptionalbiomechanics research early on in their career.
Judex has researched how organ systems, such as the skeleton, respond to varyingfunctional demands, such as exercise. He has focused on combining molecularand genetic analyses with engineering approaches in order to gain a better understandingof the bone’#146;s response to physical stimuli from the organ to the nucleus.
The scientific community has been aware of the increase in mass and strengththat results from the tissue’#146;s ability to respond to exercise, but theway in which bones sense these stimuli remains unknown.
It is this incomplete understanding of the way the bones respond that is hamperingthe effort to use exercise interventions as prophylactic and therapeutic methodsagainst diseases that affect the bones, such as osteoporosis.
A combination of engineering and biology is needed to further the understandingof how mechanical signals are translated into a biological response, which willeventually result in safe physical interventions that will maximize tissue strengthin young adults and prevent the loss of tissue mass and strength in older individuals.
The development of new drugs which, unlike those drugs that are currently FDAapproved, will be able to both slow bone loss and promote bone formation maybe aided by the discovery of genes involved in regulating the organ and tissueresponse to certain mechanical stimuli.
The 2002 World Congress of Biomechanics, where Judex will receive his award,will be held in Calgary on August 9. Judex has also won the American Societyfor Bone and Mineral Research’#146;s (ASMBR) Young Investigator Award for 2001and the 2001 John Haddad Young Investigator Award from the Advances in MineralMetabolism Society and ASBMR.
