Sibylle Grad

Sibylle Grad is a Principal Scientist and deputy Program Head of the Regenerative Orthopaedics Program at 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 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. Prof 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, and in 2025 she was appointed Adjunct Professor at the Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST) at the ETH Zürich.

Current research topics

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration and regeneration

• Whole organ culture models and multiaxial bioreactors for the study of IVD damage, inflammation and degeneration
• Intradiscal cell therapy, molecular therapy, and biomaterial evaluation for IVD regeneration
• Annulus fibrosus repair
• Phenotypic, local and systemic biomarkers for IVD health and degeneration 

Articular cartilage repair and regeneration

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

Prof Grad has supervised many Doctoral and Masters Theses and is a 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, Horizon Europe, EuroStars, NASS, SET, SSSTC), and has been partner and section leader of several collaborative projects in the areas of IVD and cartilage research.

Prof Grad is an International Editorial Board member of the European Cells & Materials (eCM) Journal and co-organiser of the ARI Orthopaedics 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, ORS Topic Chair for Intervertebral Disc for 2018-2020 and Career Development Committee member 2023-2025. She is also an active member of AO Spine Research Commission, a Fellow of the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS), active member of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) and EUROSPINE and committee member of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS). She is a Board Member of Academia Raetica Graubünden.

Her publications include more than 170 peer reviewed papers and 14 book chapters.