The physicians and scientists in the Orthopedic Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are internationally recognized leaders in pediatric orthopedic research and musculoskeletal research.

Our researchers combine biomedical research in the laboratory with clinical research at the bedside to uncover the mechanisms of disease, envision new treatments, and ultimately create novel therapies that combine surgical and biologic tools.

CHOP’s Orthopedic Center works hand-in-hand with CHOP’s Research Institute to accelerate research progress and therapeutic discoveries from bench to bedside to benefit children worldwide.

Orthopedic Biomedical Research Program

Researchers in the Biomedical Research Program in Pediatric Orthopedics at CHOP are investigating the mechanisms that control skeletal development and growth throughout life and how aberrations in those mechanisms cause disease.

Our researchers focus on:

• How the different bones and joints form and acquire their distinct shapes and structures
• How the bones and joints connect and function with muscles, tendons and ligaments
• How pediatric musculoskeletal disorders such as heterotopic ossification, hereditary multiple exostoses and muscular dystrophy could be treated more effectively

Data and insights gained from basic fundamental studies help us to envision what may be the pathogenic mechanisms of musculoskeletal diseases including: hereditary multiple exostoses (HME), heterotopic ossification (HO), muscular dystrophies, joint disease, and tendon-ligaments defects and trauma.

These predictions are then tested in experimental models of disease. The goal of biomedical research is to convert basic scientific knowledge into novel therapies to treat diseases, enhance recovery, and restore well-being and function for individuals.

Our team includes faculty members, post-doctoral fellows, research technicians, a laboratory assistant, graduate student and program manager.

Orthopedic Clinical Research

Clinicians in CHOP’s Orthopedic Center are actively involved in nearly 100 current research projects and clinical trials. Our clinical research focuses on evaluating operative and non-operative treatment in orthopedic medicine including spine deformities, bone tumors, trauma, sports medicine and a full range of orthopedic abnormalities from head to toe.

Our clinicians collaborate with researchers at CHOP's Research Institute, the Center for Applied Genomics at CHOP, and multiple other hospitals and institutions across the country. The Center for Applied Genomics is one of the world's largest genetics research programs and the only center at a pediatric hospital to have large-scale access to state-of-the-art throughput genotyping technology.

With research we hope to gain a better understanding of what causes specific orthopedic conditions and how best to treat each.

• Review active clinical research studies