Prof. Ernst B. Hunziker is currently head of the research group of the Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Osteoporosis at the Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland. He is a co-founder of the International Cartilage Repair Society. By training, Prof. Hunziker is a physician. But since completing his medical studies, internship and residency he devoted his time to research and teaching. His interests lie in the fields of cartilage biology and growth-factor based tissue engineering of cartilage and bone. He looked at why articular cartilage tissue is unable to heal spontaneously, and found that that growth-factor signalling culled the tissue`s own resources, thereby obviating the need for cell or tissue tranplantation. This research led to the invention of several technologies relevant to the field of tissue engineering. Prof. Hunziker served several years in the executive board of the ICRS. He was ICRS president from 2004 -2006.
