Joseph J Sarver

In 2003, Dr. Sarver began working with Dr. Louis J. Soslwosky as a research Research Associate. During that time he worked on several projects including the 'REMO' project, looking at the effect of remobilization following rotator cuff repair in an animal model, as well as, non-contact intra-tendinous strain using texture tracking with MRI.

In 2006, Dr. Sarver became a Senior Research Investigator with Dr. Soslowsky, and spear-headed several new collaborative research areas including using US to examine tendon structure (in collaboration with Dr. Seghal in the ultrasound lab at Penn), as well as double-quantum-filtered (DQF) nuclear-magnetic-resonance (NMR) in collaboration with Dr. Wehrli in the laboratory for structural NMR Imaging (http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/radiology/research/labs/lsni/) . Dr. Sarver also collaborated with Sam Ward in () UCSD looking at the changes in muscle following tendon detachment in the rat model.

Dr. Sarver's doctoral work focused on neuromuscular adaptation to exercise induced fatigue and developing technologies for quantifying fatigue. In particular, Dr. Sarver's study determined that mechanical signals of force-tremor and vibromyography reduced significantly following exhaustive flexor exercise about the elbow. In addition, Dr. Sarver developed a population-based mathematical model which explained that these mechanical changes were due to a slowing in excitation/contraction coupling, as well as an increase in neurological excitation.

Dr. Sarver's masters work was done at Shriners Hospital for Children of Philadelphia, where he examined shoulder motion in children with C4 level spinal cord injuries. J's study determined that the range of shoulder motion in this group was sufficient for use with the current 'hand-grasp' functional-electrical-stimulation system developed at Case Western Reserve University, FES Center.

Dr. Joseph "J" Sarver joined the Drexel School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems' faculty in 2012, and was a member of the McKay Orthopaedic Laboratory at the University of Pennsylavania, as a post-doctoral fellow, under the guidance of Dr. Dawn M. Elliott. While working with Dr. Elliott, he studied the intervertebral discs of mice as an animal model to study degeneration. In addition, he worked with several undergraduate students, Drexel Co-ops and senior design, to complete a planar biaxial mechanical testing machine for use in testing soft tissue.