Gail M. Thornton

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Associate Professor

P.Eng.

• Telephone: 403.220.2296
• Fax: 403.283.7742
• E-mail: gail [dot] thornton [at] ucalgary [dot] ca

B.Sc. (with Distinction) (Alberta) 1993

M.S.M.E. (M.I.T.) 1995

Ph.D. (Calgary) 2000

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RESEARCH:

Dr. Thornton conducts her research at the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health. Her research interests include the mechanical behaviours of knee ligaments and the mechanisms of damage accumulation in normal and healing ligaments.  She is also investigating the mechanical mechanisms of tendon injury, particularly in the rotator cuff of the shoulder.  Dr. Thornton also studies the effect of estrogen on ligament mechanical properties, especially following injury.  For a profile of Dr. Thornton's research, please visit:  http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/november2007/joint-pain

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Thornton GM, Shao X, Kuchison ME, Marchuk LL, Shrive NG, Frank CB: Healing ligament mechanical properties are improved by repair with interpositional allografts but not by concomitant treatment with hyaluronic acid. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 27(3): 400-407, 2009

Lo IKY, Sciore P, Chung M, Liang S, Boorman R, Thornton GM, Rattner JB, Muldrew K:  Local anesthetics induce chondrocyte death in bovine articular cartilage disks in a dose- and duration-dependent manner. Arthroscopy 25(7):707-715, 2009

Thornton GM, Schwab TD, and Oxland TR: Cyclic loading causes faster rupture and strain rate than static loading in medial collateral ligament at high stress. Clinical Biomechanics 35(10):1713-1721, 2007

Schwab TD, Johnston CR, Oxland TR, and Thornton GM: Continuum damage mechanics (CDM) modelling demonstrates that ligament fatigue damage accumulates by different mechanisms than creep damage. Journal of Biomechanics 49(14):3279-3284, 2007

Thornton GM, Johnson JJ, Maser RV, Shrive NG and Frank CB: Strength of medial structures of the knee joint are decreased by isolated injury to the medial collateral ligament and subsequent joint immobilization. Journal of Orthopaedic Research 23(5):1191-1198, 2005

Rau MD, Renouf D, Benfield D, Otto DD, Thornton GM, Raso VJ, and Bagnall KM: Examination of the failure properties of the anterior cruciate ligament during the estrous cycle. The Knee 12(1):37-40, 2005

 

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