Regenerative Rehabilitation Moonshot
Regenerative Rehabilitation, based at the University of Oregon with collaborations extending out across the other institutions in the alliance, aims to help athletes and the general public recover from injuries more quickly and effectively.
The moonshot synergizes regenerative medicine and rehabilitation protocols to restore function to damaged tissues. We believe an integrated interdisciplinary approach can dramatically accelerate healing and optimize functional recovery following a range of tissue damage levels—and even help prevent injuries before they happen.
Nick Willett, associate professor at the Knight Campus leads this effort. His research sits at the interface between engineering and clinical applications. Previously, he served as associate professor in the department of orthopaedics at Emory University.
Researchers in this moonshot will organize multidisciplinary research involving integrated performance organoid tissue models, in vivo studies, and advanced data analytics. Applying the results, they will develop consistent clinical standards. These evidence-based practices will benefit lives—accelerating healing, optimizing recovery, and even preventing injuries before they happen.
View Regenerative Rehabilitation Projects
Innovation Hub @ Oregon
Researchers in the Bowerman Sports Science Center (BSSC), one of five innovation hubs in the Human Performance Alliance, will help track and field athletes improve performance and recover from injuries. This innovation hub will be a collaboration among the Knight Campus, the center, athletics and other faculty across the UO.
Mike Hahn, associate professor of human physiology and director of the Bowerman Sports Science Center, will lead this effort as associate director of the alliance at Oregon.
This hub will focus on the development of predictive biomarkers and AI-based algorithms to improve the performance and injury recovery of track and field athletes at the developmental, elite, and master’s levels.
Located in Hayward Field, the UO’s iconic track and field facility, the center is a research core facility with a mission to improve the health, fitness, and well-being of athletes in the community. The center features a state-of-the-art motion analysis and biomechanics laboratory, as well as a performance physiology laboratory. These enable researchers to precisely study the gait of athletes and more. Using the center’s environmental chamber, researchers simulate environments to mimic any training and performance conditions on earth—including high altitude, extreme temperatures, and various humidity levels.