Sibylle Grad

Sibylle Grad is a Principal Scientist in the Regenerative Orthopaedics Program of the AO Research Institute Davos (ARI). Within the Regenerative Orthopaedics Program, she is the Focus Area Leader for Intervertebral Disc and Cartilage Biology.

Sibylle Grad obtained her degree in Pharmacy and her PhD in Natural Sciences from the Department of Cell Biology of the Federal Institute of Technology (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH) in Zürich. After completing her first post-doctoral training she joined the AO Research Institute Davos in 2000. Dr Grad has since then acquired extensive research expertise in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine with focus on articular cartilage and intervertebral disc repair and regeneration. In 2018, she obtained her habilitation in Biomedical Engineering from the Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST) at the ETH Zürich.

Current research topics

Intervertebral disc degeneration and regeneration

• Whole organ culture models and bioreactors for degenerative and inflammatory IVD disorders
• Cell therapy, molecular therapy, stem/progenitor cell homing for IVD regeneration
• Annulus fibrosus repair
• Phenotypic, local and systemic biomarkers for IVD health and degeneration 

Articular cartilage repair and regeneration

• Bioreactors mimicking load and motion within articulating joints 
• Ex vivo explant models for chondral and osteochondral injury 
• Cell therapy, molecular therapy and tissue engineering for articular cartilage repair
• In vitro/ ex vivo inflammation models

Dr Grad has supervised many Doctoral and Masters Theses and is a private docent and course leader in the graduate program of the Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST) at the ETH Zürich. In addition, she has obtained substantial funding from national, European and international agencies (including SNSF, FP7, Horizon2020, EuroStars, NASS, SET, SSSTC), and has been partner and section leader of several collaborative projects in the areas of IVD and cartilage research.

Dr Grad is an International Editorial Board member of the European Cells & Materials (eCM) Journal and co-organiser of the eCM Annual Conference. She is an International Advisory Review Board Member of the Journal of Orthopaedic Research Spine. She co-organized the Spine Research Interest Group of the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS), was ORS Program Committee Member from 2014-2016, has been appointed ORS Spine Section Research Chair for the term 2017-2019, and ORS Topic Chair for Intervertebral Disc for 2018-2020. She is also an active member of AO Spine International, a Fellow of the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS), active member of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) and faculty member of the educational program of EUROSPINE. She is Vice President of the Graduate School Graubünden (GSGR).

Her publications include more than 100 peer reviewed papers and 10 book chapters.