Karl Lewis

Karl Lewis is an Assistant Professor at the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University. His research focuses on understanding how mechanical cues interact with biological processes in musculoskeletal tissues, particularly osteocytes' role in bone health. He leads the Lewis Lab, developing intravital imaging techniques to study mechanotransduction in real-time. Lewis holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Temple University (2011), a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from The City College of New York (2017), and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Indiana University School of Medicine (2020).

His work explores osteocyte signaling mechanisms, including calcium dynamics and neurotransmitter interactions, with implications for osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. Key collaborations include work with Ulrich Wiesner on fluorescent nanoparticles (C’Dots) for imaging osteocyte integrins. Lewis has received awards such as the Dempster Rising Star (2024) and NIH T-32 Grant (2017–2019).

• Educations:
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering (Temple University, 2011)
  • Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering (City College of New York, 2017)
  • Postdoc in Osteocyte Mechanobiology (Indiana University School of Medicine, 2020)
• Research Highlights:
  • Investigating osteocyte calcium signaling in vivo using intravital microscopy
  • Developing C’Dots for real-time imaging of osteocyte integrin dynamics
  • Exploring sexually dimorphic mechanisms in bone health and mechanotransduction
  • Studying neurotransmitter roles (e.g., acetylcholine) in osteocyte function
• Key Awards:
  • Patricia and David Dempster Rising Star Award (2024)
  • NIH T-32 Training Grant (2017–2019)
  • NASA New York Space Consortium Fellowship (2013–2017)
• Lab and Collaborations:
  • Lewis Lab at Cornell Engineering focuses on musculoskeletal mechanobiology
  • Collaboration with Ulrich Wiesner (Materials Science) on C’Dots technology
  • Studies on osteocyte signaling in bone disease progression