The human back is a complex structure with bones, nerves, tendons, discs, and more — all places where something can go wrong and cause pain, which, for many people, becomes a long-term or chronic problem. Life stresses and other medical and mental health conditions aggravate the problem. With so many pieces, it’s hard to get a holistic view of the puzzle or pinpoint the cause of the pain. “People tend to focus on one aspect or another,” said Jeffrey Lotz, Ph.D., a medical engineer who studies back pain at the University of California, San Francisco. “Some people think it’s largely

HEAL-funded researcher Conor Walsh, Ph.D., and his team at the Harvard Biodesign Lab specialize in developing soft “exosuits” – wearable devices that help people with muscle weakness (for example, after a stroke) so they can regain movement and muscle strength.

A research team led by Dr. Makarand Risbud of Thomas Jefferson University tested whether treatment with the drugs dasatinib and quercetin would prevent disc degeneration in mice. Both drugs are senolytics, which selectively remove aged cells known as senescent cells.