Christopher Hernandez, PhD
Professor
Orthopaedic Surgery
School of Medicine

I am a mechanical engineer and bioengineer. My laboratory studies interactions between microbes, musculoskeletal tissues and materials. We are currently studying the effects of the gut microbiome on the musculoskeletal system and the success of orthopaedic surgery. Additionally we are studying mechanobiology of bacteria and advancing the new field of Engineered Living Materials.

Education & Training

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• PhD Mechanical Engineering Stanford University 2001
• MS Mechanical Engineering Stanford University 1997
• SB Engineering Sciences (Biomedical Engineering) Harvard University 1996

Websites

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• Health Innovations Via Engineering (engineering.ucsf.edu)
• Hernandez Research Group (hernandezresearch.com)

Grants and Projects

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• The Microbiome and Bone Strength, NIH, 2021-2026
• The Microbiome and Bone Strength, NIH, 2020-2021
• The Role of Bone Resorption in Bone Marrow Lesions, NIH, 2018-2021
• The microbiome as a risk factor for periprosthetic joint infection, NIH, 2017-2020
• Separating Systemic Inflammation From Obesity in Load-Induced Osteoarthritis, NIH, 2015-2017
• Biomechanical Effects of Microstructural Flaws in Cancellous Bone, NIH, 2010-2015
• Associations between gut microbiota, flagellin production and bone microstructure, NIH, 2013-2014
• Acquisition of a Nano Computed Tomography Instrument for shared Cornell Imaging f, NIH, 2013-2014
• Three-Dimensional Dynamic Bone Histomorphometry, NIH, 2007-2010

Publications (9)

Top publication keywords:
Cancellous BoneFemurMicrobubblesVibrio choleraeStress, MechanicalTensile StrengthGastrointestinal MicrobiomeOsteoporosisBone MatrixBone and BonesElastic ModulusBone RemodelingWeight-BearingCell WallBiomechanical Phenomena

• Microbiome-induced increases and decreases in bone matrix strength can be initiated after skeletal maturity.
  Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 2024 Liu C, Cyphert EL, Stephen SJ, Wang B, Morales AL, Nixon JC, Natsoulas NR, Garcia M, Carmona PB, Vill AC, Donnelly E, Brito IL, Vashishth D, Hernandez CJ
• Determining the Young's Modulus of the Bacterial Cell Envelope.
  ACS biomaterials science & engineering 2024 Lee J, Jha K, Harper CE, Zhang W, Ramsukh M, Bouklas N, Dörr T, Chen P, Hernandez CJ
• Mechanical stimuli activate gene expression via a cell envelope stress sensing pathway.
  Scientific reports 2023 Harper CE, Zhang W, Lee J, Shin JH, Keller MR, van Wijngaarden E, Chou E, Wang Z, Dörr T, Chen P, Hernandez CJ
• Mechanical stress compromises multicomponent efflux complexes in bacteria.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2019 Genova LA, Roberts MF, Wong YC, Harper CE, Santiago AG, Fu B, Srivastava A, Jung W, Wang LM, Krzeminski L, Mao X, Sun X, Hui CY, Chen P, Hernandez CJ
• Bone-inspired microarchitectures achieve enhanced fatigue life.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2019 Torres AM, Trikanad AA, Aubin CA, Lambers FM, Luna M, Rimnac CM, Zavattieri P, Hernandez CJ

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• Disruption of the Gut Microbiome Increases the Risk of Periprosthetic Joint Infection in Mice.
  Clinical orthopaedics and related research 2019 Hernandez CJ, Yang X, Ji G, Niu Y, Sethuraman AS, Koressel J, Shirley M, Fields MW, Chyou S, Li TM, Luna M, Callahan RL, Ross FP, Lu TT, Brito IL, Carli AV, Bostrom MPG
• Alterations to the Gut Microbiome Impair Bone Strength and Tissue Material Properties.
  Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 2017 Guss JD, Horsfield MW, Fontenele FF, Sandoval TN, Luna M, Apoorva F, Lima SF, Bicalho RC, Singh A, Ley RE, van der Meulen MC, Goldring SR, Hernandez CJ
• Links Between the Microbiome and Bone.
  Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 2016 Hernandez CJ, Guss JD, Luna M, Goldring SR
• Material heterogeneity in cancellous bone promotes deformation recovery after mechanical failure.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2016 Torres AM, Matheny JB, Keaveny TM, Taylor D, Rimnac CM, Hernandez CJ