Dr. Robby Bowles received his B.S.E. from the University of Pennsylvania in Bioengineering and a Ph.D. from Cornell University in Biomedical Engineering while working with Dr. Lawrence Bonassar. He is currently working as an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Lori Setton in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. Dr. Bowles has a long-standing interest in the pain generating diseases that affect the spine and intervertebral discs.
His research has focused on regenerative medicine approaches to treat the architecturally, mechanically and biologically complex intervertebral disc, which has been reported in a landmark paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and gained national attention from over 50 different news organizations.
His most recent work published in Arthritis and Rheumatology with the Setton lab has focused on luminescent imaging to evaluate the temporal kinetics of NF-κB activity, its relationship to pain sensitivity and blood cytokine levels in musculoskeletal disease. “We are very excited to be able to hire such an outstanding young Professor” says Patrick A. Tresco, department chair, “his research is unique and will strengthen our orthopedics and regenerative medicine research areas as well as our curriculum.”
Dr. Bowles research will focus on combining his interests in musculoskeletal discomfort and regenerative medicine to treat the pain producing interactions between the altered mechanics, inflammation, and neo-innervation observed in degenerative disc disease. Additionally, he has been involved in science outreach through numerous outlets as an NSF GK-12 Fellow at Cornell University and the co-founder of ScienceSunday, a social media focused outreach group. ScienceSunday boasts 80,000 followers online and has 14 million views on its shared science content.