NFL Charities, the charitable foundation of the National Football League, has awarded a grant of $125,000 to UC Davis for research on new ways to repair injured knees.

The aim of the work is to engineer new materials to repair the knee meniscus, said Professor Kyriacos Athanasiou, chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. The meniscus is a gel-filled pad that sits between the bones and protects the joint when we run or jump.

"The No. 1 surgery for injured NFL players is meniscal repair," Athanasiou said.

The grant will run for one year. Athanasiou's laboratory is also carrying out research on tissue engineering of knee cartilage.

The grant is among $1.5 million awarded to 11 institutions this year by NFL Charities. Since 2000, NFL Charities has committed more than $20 million in medical research grants to address issues including injury prevention, heat stress risks and studies on mild traumatic brain injury.

About UC Davis

For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges -- Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools -- Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.