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The Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory (MBL) was established under the direction of Gerard A. Ateshian in 1996. Professor Ateshian has a joint appointment in Columbia's Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering and he recruits students from both programs. Initially, the MBL's research focused principally on cartilage mechanics and lubrication. Starting in the late 1990s, a strong collaborative effort was established with Prof. Clark Hung's Cellular Engineering Laboratory in the areas of cartilage tissue engineering and cell mechanics. More recently, the research efforts of the MBL have expanded toward modeling of solute transport and growth processes in biological tissues; the development of computational tools that can address these mechanisms; and the extension of insights gained from musculoskeletal studies to cardiovascular tissues and reproductive cells. The MBL's fundamental philosophy is that major scientific breakthroughs can be achieved in biomedical engineering by judiciously combining theoretical analyses with experimental studies.