Mitchell B. Schaffler is a Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Bone and Joint Laboratory at the City College of New York (CCNY). Dr. Schaffler's research aims to understand how skeletal tissues (bone, ligament, tendon, cartilage) develop, maintain and repair themselves in order to meet mechanical demands throughout life. In particular, he focuses on the cellular and integrative processes that control the architectural features of bone and tendon, and governs how they responds to physical challenges normally and in aging and in diseases such as osteoporosis, genetic defects and diabetes. He has a longstanding research focus on fatigue and repair in bone and tendon, with specific emphasis on discovering how living cells in these tissues detect and repair wear and tear damage before it accumulates to the point of mechanical failure. Dr. Schaffler's laboratory also examines how osteocytes (the tissue-resident bone cells) influences mechanical function, both directly by modulating local matrix composition, and indirectly by controlling local bone remodeling activities.

In related studies, Dr. Schaffler's laboratory also examines how osteocytes function as mechanical sensors that allow bone to perceive and react to mechanical loading. Experimental approaches used in the Bone and Joint Laboratory focus on the cell and tissue levels, and include in vivo and tissue mechanical loading studies, mechanical and biomaterials testing, microscopy, microcomputed tomography, in vivo microscopy and super-resolution microscopy, cell culture and molecular biology. Dr. Schaffler has more than 150 peer reviewed manuscripts published in international journals, 300 peer reviewed transactions, and has been elected fellow at prestigious societies, including the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, and the American Association of Anatomists. He received the AcroMed Award for Outstanding Research, North American Spine Society, and has been Editorial Board member of the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, BONE and Anatomical Record journal.