Dr. Orhun Muratoglu is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, as well as the Alan Gerry Scholar, co-director of the Harris Orthopaedics Lab, and director of the Technology Implementation and Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Muratoglu holds a doctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Muratoglu laboratory explores the failure mechanisms of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and attempts to develop technologies to address these failure modes. Dr. Muratoglu played a key role in the discovery of highly crosslinked UHMWPE, a more wear-resistant polymeric material for load-bearing applications in total joints. Implants manufactured using this technology have been placed in more than three million patients to date, with outstanding outcomes observed during the first decade of use. He also pioneered the use of the antioxidant vitamin E to further stabilize the highly cross-linked UHMWPE. Dr. Muratoglu also develops treatment modalities for early-stage osteoarthritis, in the form of cartilage repair and/or replacement, by leveraging hydrogel technologies. He has published nearly 80 peer-reviewed articles, 30 book chapters, and holds more than 50 patents.