Cellular and Molecular Biology

A goal of our Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratories is to understand how cartilage and bone are made in embryos and determine how these skeletal tissues can be regenerated in adults following injury or disease.

Current research includes surgical transplantations of stem cells in order to identify genes and tissue interactions that control the embryonic formation of bone and cartilage.  Such experiments will help researchers design molecular therapies for treating disorders that affect skeletal development as well as provide a foundation for devising biologically based approaches to manipulate the differentiation of skeletal stem cells in the clinical context of disease and trauma.

We also focus on specific molecular signaling pathways that ultimately will be utilized in a variety of clinical contexts to drive the differentiation of stem cells, alter the biomechanical properties of tissues, or induce damaged structures to undergo repair.