Members

Focus: molecular steps critical for development and progression of such diseases related to osteoclasts.

Focus: the mechanisms that lead to chronic inflammation.

Focus: improving techniques for peripheral nerve repair and regeneration and has an interest in developing methods to quantitatively assess nerves intra-operatively.

Focus: skeletal muscle function and metabolic flexibility in response to stress (e.g., exercise, prolong fasting, and injury) and how these responses are impacted by metabolic disruptions — particularly obesity and diabetes.

Focus: sports medicine and shoulder and knee injuries, with an emphasis on arthroscopic surgery.

Focus: the cellular and molecular basis of the bone remodeling process, and to devise mechanisms by which this balance can be modified.

Focus: the diagnosis and treatment of pre-arthritic and early arthritic hip disorders. Optimizing joint replacement procedures in young patients, and total joint arthroplasty patient surveillance.

Focus: Characterization of innate immune receptors expressed on myeloid and lymphoid cells. We study their impact in immune responses in infections, autoimmunity, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Among others, we study the receptor TREM2, which is expressed in osteoclasts and controls their development and function in the bone. Genetically inherited defects of TREM2 cause mild osteoporosis and bone cysts. TREM2 is also expressed in synovial macrophages and may impact their responses during autoimmune arthritis.

Focus: Disease mechanisms and experimental therapies for lysosomal storage disorders like the Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCLs or Batten disease).

Focus: signaling interactions between satellite cells and cells/ECM of the broad and dynamic local environment they must navigate during acute muscle regeneration

Focus: understanding how the gut microbiota during pregnancy and early postnatal life set the stage for lifelong immunity

Focus: the exploitation of adenoviral agents for applications to the applied contexts of molecular therapeutics.

Focus: Periodontal ligament and alveolar bone in Marfan Syndrome

Focus: the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) based cellular therapies to treat disease.

Focus: the dissection of mechanisms of viral pathogenesis and the host immune response for global pathogens of medical relevance. This includes defining mechanisms of alphavirus-induced arthritis.

Focus:  mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) disorders, which are lysosomal enzyme deficiencies affecting the catabolism of glycosaminoglycans. Musculoskeletal manifestations include dysostosis multiplex, joint restriction or joint laxity, kyphoscoliosis, and pain. Our lab studies the response of disease to therapeutic enzymes, and the role of the immune system both in disease pathogenesis and the effect of a humoral immune response on the efficacy of therapy.

Focus: The investigation of citrate and its plasma-membrane transporter, SLC13A5 in bone and cartilage.

Focus: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene therapy

Focus: the function of the transcription factor Bhlhe40 in immune cells.

Focus: How alcohol and its metabolites affect the brain both in adult as well as in utero.

Focus: the identification of common molecules that can modulate the activation of immune cells as well as osteoclasts.

Focus: the molecular mechanisms involved in lipin 1-deficiency-associated rhabdomyolysis.

Focus: Understanding the molecular pathogenesis and targeted therapy development for dominantly inherited myodegenerative diseases.

Focus: Dissecting the epigenetic processes underlying Overgrowth and intellectual disability disorders (OGIDs). Our lab uses integrated analysis of epigenomic and transcriptomic alterations across multiple neurodevelopmental disease models to understand the genetic basis of these disorders.

Focus:  develop novel biomaterial and stem cell based regenerative therapies and electrical stimulation based rehabilitative strategies to promote the recovery of skeletal muscle following trauma.

Focus: tendon repair, carpal instability, peripheral nerve repair and peripheral nerve compression.

Focus: Mechanisms of bone loss in sickle cell disease, a red cell disorder

Focus: Targeting lactate transportation as a means of attacking cancers.

Focus: the translational research pipeline for identifying next generation prebiotics, probiotics- and synbiotics (combinations of pre- and probiotics) to prevent or treat metabolic dysfunction and nutritional deficiencies

Focus: biomimetic biomaterials synthesis and scaffold fabrication; bioinspired modification of biomaterials; injectable and highly flexible hydrogels; bioimageable polymers for MRI and EPR imaging and oxygen sensing; mathematical modeling of scaffold structural and mechanical properties; stem cell transplantation; and regeneration of musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and brain tissues.

Focus: cell and tissue engineering; development, degeneration, and aging; embryonic and adult tissue stem cells.

Focus: the genetic basis of congenital malformations such as idiopathic scoliosis and clubfoot.

Focus: developing biomaterials that present microenvironmental (biophysical + biomolecular) signals to instruct cell behavior for applications in musculoskeletal tissue regeneration, hematopoietic stem cell biomanufacturing, as well as models of invasive brain cancer and endometrial physiology and disease

Focus: how alterations in joint geometry or the musculature affect movement patterns and how these factors are collectively associated with osteoarthritis (OA).

Focus: the biomechanics and imaging of the hip and pelvis with the goal to develop effective rehabilitation strategies for people with musculoskeletal hip disorders.

Focus: foot and ankle biomechanics; understanding of foot and ankle function to improve screening, prevention, and treatment outcomes related to foot and ankle injuries.

Focus: the regulation of the release of growth factors and cytokines by metalloproteases cleavage from the cell surface (ectodomain cleavage), how it affects communication between different cell types in complex multicellular organs, and its role(s) in pathophysiology.

Focus: the genomic information from sarcomas to better understand the pathogenesis of these tumors and to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets for these aggressive cancers.

Focus: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Studying the structural derangements of tibial atherosclerotic disease, with particular focus on patterns of vascular calcification.

Focus: the pathogenesis and pathophysiologic mechanisms of the chronic kidney disease-bone and mineral disorder.

Focus: Engineered disease models, hydrogel biomaterials for regenerative medicine approaches to bone and intervertebral disc.

Focus: the mechanisms of fibrosis across organs in chronic injury states.

Focus: Studying how gut microbiota impacts host response to inflammation and injury.

Focus: How cells use the actin cytoskeleton to build dynamic structures that support a myriad of essential functions including cytokinesis, cell migration and intracellular trafficking. Currently, we are specifically interested in how several actin-binding proteins (PLS3, Tropomyosins and Coronins) contribute to mineralization in bone maintenance and repair.

Focus: the molecular mechanisms that govern skeletal muscle development.

Focus: the evaluation and treatment of shoulder and elbow disorders, including throwing shoulder injuries, labral tears and biceps tendon injuries, rotator cuff disease and tears, frozen shoulder syndrome, shoulder and elbow arthritis, shoulder fractures, minimally invasive shoulder fracture fixation, shoulder and elbow joint replacement, acromioclavicular and sternoclavicular joint injuries, shoulder instability and reverse shoulder arthroplasty.

Focus: Cellular and molecular mechanisms of tissue injury, inflammation, and fibrosis, with a focus on soluble receptors of growth factors and cytokines.

Focus: understanding the mechanical instigators of tissue development and remodeling during growth and aging, and the effect of injury or disease on their properties

Focus: Joint health and disease, osteoarthritis, tissue crosstalk, immunology and inflammation

Focus: the multiscale mechanics of orthopaedic soft tissues, particularly of tendons and ligaments that are subjected to complex and/or combined physiologic loads.