Welcome to the Maerz Laboratory at the University of Michigan!
We are an interdisciplinary group of researchers interested in the pathophysiology of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Our lab employs in vitro studies with a wide variety of PTOA-relevant cell types, in vivo mouse and rat models of joint injury, and clinical patient cohorts to understand acute, injury related processes contributing to chronic, debilitating joint disease.
Our primary goal is to discover and target novel mechanisms responsible for inflammation and tissue degeneration following joint injury in order to develop disease-modifying treatments to combat the developing global epidemic of musculoskeletal dysfunction.
Please do not hesitate to contact us directly (tmaerz@med.umich.edu). We are passionate about collaboration, innovation, and building long-term academic partnerships.
MicroCT Images of Healthy Murine Knee
MicroCT Images of a Murine Knee With End-Stage Osteoarthritis
The Maerz laboratory is part of the Orthopaedic Research Laboratories (ORL), a faculty consortium in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery focused on diseases of the skeleton. The ORL hosts the University of Michigan NIAMS P30 Core Center (The Michigan Integrative Musculoskeletal Health Core (MiMHC)) and the ORL faculty share 10,000 square feet of laboratory space in the Biomedical Sciences Research Building. The ORL is fully-equipped for cellular and molecular, histological, compositional, and mechanical evaluation of musculoskeletal tissues and cells.