Ironically, the meniscus grafts may prove far more useful in people than in the species that helped pioneer it.

Dogs often suffer meniscus injuries after tearing their anterior cruciate ligament, one of the ligaments that hold the knee together. When the ACL ruptures, the knee becomes unstable, causing grinding movements that wear on the meniscus. In dogs, these injuries can lead to arthritis very quickly. By the time an animal's owner realizes that their friend is hurting, the damage may be too great for a meniscus graft to be successful.

"To stick this material into the joint of a typical clinical canine patient, it's doomed to failure," Cook says. This, unfortunately, was true for Libby. Cook removed the damaged portion of the dog's meniscus and did further surgery to stabilize the knee, but was unable to give her an SIS graft.

When people suffer a meniscus injury, they're apt to be in so much pain that they get to a doctor soon enough to make an SIS graft feasible. "Dogs are a lot tougher than we are," Cook says. "Most people aren't going to grin and bear it with a meniscal tear."

But Cook has found other uses for SIS in dogs, to repair damaged hip joints and knee ligaments, and to restore ruptured Achilles' tendons. "We've seen beautiful regeneration," he says.

Cook and his wife of 10 years, Cristi, have two cats and a dog of their own. All were either found or left abandoned at the veterinary school. "Most veterinarians have what we call 'broken pets' that we fixed up and brought home," he says. Kodi is the Cooks' chocolate Labrador. Their cats are Ashley and Albus. Albus is named after Albus Dumbledore, the venerable headmaster in the Harry Potter books, some of Cook's favorite reads.

James and Cristi met at veterinary school. Cristi is a veterinary radiologist and a clinical assistant professor on the MU faculty. The couple say they enjoy traveling to far-flung locales, like Australia, New Zealand and Japan. But at home, Cook says he likes nothing better than to don his skis and hit the water.

The Cooks live near Columbia on Lake Paragon, a community built around an artificial lake that was designed for water skiers. "Every night I just go out to ski in my front yard," Cook says. "It's really nice."

Update: MU Knee Process Received Federal Approval for Human Clinical Trials (12/01/04)