Paula Hernandez, Ph.D.

Dr. Hernandez completed her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cell Biology and Neuroscience at the University of Chile in Santiago, Chile, where she worked in Alzheimer's disease. She learned about the fascinating area of orthopaedics with Dr. Sun-Kyeong Lee at UConn Health Center. After deciding to pursue this field, she spent two years training in cartilage biology at the University of Cambridge in UK with Dr. Frances Henson and Dr. John Wardale. In 2014 she came back to U.S. to work with Dr. Nadeen Chahine in cytoskeleton and intervertebral discs mechanobiology at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York. Her research currently explores structural, cellular, and mechanobiological aspects of sexual dimorphism in cartilage health and in osteoarthritis.

Undergraduate

University of Chile (2000), Science

Graduate School

University of Chile (2007), Science

• cartilage diseases
• cell mechanobiology
• sexual dimorphism in articular cartilage
• tissue biomechanics

Featured Publications

Sexual Dimorphism in the Extracellular and Pericellular Matrix of Articular Cartilage.

Hernandez PA, Moreno M, Barati Z, Hutcherson C, Sathe AA, Xing C, Wright J, Welch T, Dhaher Y, Cartilage 2022 Jul-Sep 13 3 19476035221121792

Actomyosin contractility confers mechanoprotection against TNFa-induced disruption of the intervertebral disc.

Hernandez PA, Jacobsen TD, Chahine NO, Sci Adv 2020 Aug 6 34 eaba2368

Early-Onset Osteoarthritis originates at the chondrocyte level in Hip Dysplasia.

Hernandez PA, Wells J, Usheva E, Nakonezny PA, Barati Z, Gonzalez R, Kassem L, Henson FMD, Sci Rep 2020 01 10 1 627

Mechanotransduction and cell biomechanics of the intervertebral disc.

Fearing BV, Hernandez PA, Setton LA, Chahine NO, JOR Spine 2018 Sep 1 3

Inhibition of toll-like receptor 4 protects against inflammation-induced mechanobiological alterations to intervertebral disc cells

TD Jacobsen, Hernandez PA, Chahine NO Eur Cell Mater 2021 41 576-591

Confocal scanning of intervertebral disc cells in 3D: Inside alginate beads and in native microenvironment.

Hernandez PA, Jacobsen TD, Barati Z, Chahine NO, JOR Spine 2020 Dec 3 4 e1106

Bactericidal efficacy of hydrogen peroxide on Cutibacterium acnes.

Hernandez P, Sager B, Fa A, Liang T, Lozano C, Khazzam M, Bone Joint Res 2019 Jan 8 1 3-10

Severe Burn-Induced Inflammation and Remodeling of Achilles Tendon in a Rat Model.

Hernandez P, Buller D, Mitchell T, Wright J, Liang H, Manchanda K, Welch T, Huebinger RM, Carlson DL, Wolf SE, Song J Shock 2017 Oct

Intra-articular injection of rhFGF-18 improves the healing in microfracture treated chondral defects in an ovine model.

Power J, Hernandez P, Guehring H, Getgood A, Henson F, J Orthop Res 2014 May 32 5 669-76

New insights into the location and form of sclerostin.

Hernandez P, Whitty C, John Wardale R, Henson FM, Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2014 Apr 446 4 1108-13

• Conicyt grant award for Ph.D. thesis
  (2004-2004)
• Millenium Institute CBB scholarship for research in USA
  (2003-2003)
• Conicyt scholarship for Ph.D. studies
  (2002-2004)
• Millenium Institute CBB scholarship for research in USA
  (2002-2002)

• ORS Spine section (2017)
• Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) (2017)
• Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) (2021)