The Orthopaedic Research Laboratory was founded in 1997 after a unified Department of Orthopaedic Surgery was formed as a result of the merger between Boston University Hospital and Boston City Hospital to form Boston Medical Center. With the appointment of Thomas A. Einhorn, MD as Chairman, a mandate was established to develop a strong academic department with a substantial research component. Louis C. Gerstenfeld, PhD was recruited to direct the laboratory in 1998. Since that time, several scientists with doctoral degrees in molecular biology, bioengineering, anatomy and physiology, and dental sciences have been recruited as faculty. The laboratory now has grown to involve a staff of over twenty-five scientists including faculty, post-doctoral research fellows, masters and doctoral candidates, medical students, technicians, and visiting scientists.  The major source of funding for the laboratory is the National Institutes of Health. We are also funded by the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation, Susan G. Komen Foundation, the Department of Defense, and several companies whose technologies range from bone growth stimulating products to pharmaceutical discovery.