Highlights of the day included presentations on new research, and speedy, two-minute talks by medical and dental students, resident trainees, graduate students and post-docs
UConn Health students present their research during the poster session portion of the Musculoskeletal Institute's Research Day at the Cell and Genome Science Building in Farmington on Friday, March 20, 2026. (Sydney Herdle/UConn Photo)
Researchers from across UConn and beyond presented their latest work at the 20th annual Musculoskeletal Institute research day at UConn Health on March 20.
Dr. Marja Hurley was also announced as the next president of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). Hurley is the UConn Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, professor of Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery, and associate dean of the Health Career Opportunity Programs.
"Congratulations Marja, we wish you the best during your tenure as president," said Ernesto Canalis, the director of the Center for Skeletal Research and the co-director of the Musculoskeletal Institute. Hurley will be the fourth UConn-affiliated president of ASBMR. Canalis, Associate Dean of the Graduate School Barbara Kream, and the late MSI Director Lawrence Raisz, are all past ASBMR presidents. The society is an international group dedicated to excellence in bone research and the translation of that research into medical practice.
Highlights of the day included multiple talks on bone growth and remodeling by Roland Baron, a professor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. UConn School of Medicine orthopedic residents discussed their recent work on angled bone blocks (Jordan Bauer), dislocation rates in hip repair (Alexander Hahn), and best measures of glenoid concavity in shoulder instability (Benjamin Hawthorne.)
Researchers from Storrs participated as well. UConn physiologist and neurobiologist Rahul Kanadia discussed the role of splicing in limb development, cell biologist David Goldhamer showed new work examining the line between healthy muscle and abnormal bone formation in the rare disease fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, and biomedical engineering chair Syam Nukavarapu described scaffolds his lab is engineering to encourage damaged cartilage to regenerate in people with osteoarthritis, as well as gut metabolites to reduce inflammation in the area.
Students and post-docs gave speedy, two-minute-long presentations on their research, followed by a poster session. The posters displayed the enormous variety and reach of UConn musculoskeletal research.
Mikaela Kutrolli '28 (DMD), winner of the Best Dental Student Poster – Class of 2028 prize, infused a biocompatible material with sugar in order to make it more attractive for young bone cells to colonize.
"We were able to make the 3D printed scaffold much more porous. The sugar fully leached out after eight hours, and cell attachment improved by three times," over the typical polycaprolactone scaffold without sugar, Kutrolli said.
Jordan Tyburski '27 (MD) won Best Medical Student Poster – Class of 2027 for a case study of a man with gout that mimicked a cancerous tumor.
"It mimicked an aggressive bone tumor in the elbow. Never reported before in that location," Tyburski said.
The full list of award winners included:
Best Resident Paper: Jordan Bauer, MD
Best Orthopedic Research Fellow Poster: Rajendra Singh
Best MD/PHD Student Poster: Marta Stetsiv
Best Graduate Student Poster – Engineering: Cooper Cassells
Best Young Innovative Investigator Program Poster: Arianna Cedeño
Best Undergraduate Student Poster – Biology: Ruupala Kalaiarasu
Best Postdoc Poster: Katherine Arnold
Best Medical Student Poster – Class of 2027: Jordan Tyburski
Best Medical Student Poster – Class of 2028: Aidan Lynch
Best Medical Student Poster – Class of 2029: Kush Kataria
Best Dental Student Poster – Class of 2028: Mikaela Kutrolli
Best Orthopedic Resident Poster: Lisa Tamburini
