Louis Edwin DeFrate

Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery

Appointments and Affiliations

• Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery
• Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
• Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
• Affiliate of the Duke Regeneration Center

Contact Information

• Office Location: Room 379, Medical Sciences Research Building, Box 3093 Med. Ctr., Durham, NC 27710
• Office Phone: (919) 681-9959
• Email Address: lou.defrate@duke.edu
• Websites:
  • Google Scholar
  • Musculoskeletal Bioengineering Laboratory

Education

• Sc.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

• Kappa Delta Young Investigator Award. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Orthopaedic Research Society. 2016

Courses Taught

• BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 494: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 791: Graduate Independent Study

In the News

• Study Shows Men and Women Tear ACL the Same Way In Non-Contact Injury (Apr 18, 2018 | Duke Health News)
• His and Her Knee Injuries Occur the Same Way (Apr 18, 2018 | US News and World Report)
• How to prevent knee injuries (Dec 1, 2017 | KSAT News)
• Knee arthritis in Americans has doubled since 1940 (Aug 17, 2017 | Science Magazine)
• Athletes: Try this to prevent ACL tears and knee injuries (Aug 10, 2017 | WRAL News)
• Clinical Sciences Day: Collaboration, Mentorship Lead to Science Successes (Oct 22, 2013 | Duke Research Blog)

Representative Publications

• Englander, ZA; Foody, JN; Cutcliffe, HC; Wittstein, JR; Spritzer, CE; DeFrate, LE, Use of a Novel Multimodal Imaging Technique to Model In Vivo Quadriceps Force and ACL Strain During Dynamic Activity., Am J Sports Med, vol 50 no. 10 (2022), pp. 2688-2697 [10.1177/03635465221107085] [abs].
• Martin, JT; Wesorick, B; Oldweiler, AB; Kosinski, AS; Goode, AP; DeFrate, LE, In vivo fluid transport in human intervertebral discs varies by spinal level and disc region., Jor Spine, vol 5 no. 2 (2022) [10.1002/jsp2.1199] [abs].
• Heckelman, LN; Soher, BJ; Spritzer, CE; Lewis, BD; DeFrate, LE, Design and validation of a semi-automatic bone segmentation algorithm from MRI to improve research efficiency., Scientific Reports, vol 12 no. 1 (2022) [10.1038/s41598-022-11785-6] [abs].
• Martin, JT; Oldweiler, AB; Kosinski, AS; Spritzer, CE; Soher, BJ; Erickson, MM; Goode, AP; DeFrate, LE, Lumbar intervertebral disc diurnal deformations and T2 and T1rho relaxation times vary by spinal level and disc region., European Spine Journal : Official Publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, vol 31 no. 3 (2022), pp. 746-754 [10.1007/s00586-021-07097-4] [abs].
• Tamayo, KS; Heckelman, LN; Spritzer, CE; DeFrate, LE; Collins, AT, Obesity impacts the mechanical response and biochemical composition of patellofemoral cartilage: An in vivo, MRI-based investigation., J Biomech, vol 134 (2022) [10.1016/j.jbiomech.2022.110991] [abs].