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Bone has the capacity to regenerate with identical tissue after injury.
Our current research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying this
regenerative capacity in order to develop therapies for treating patients that
exhibit difficulty healing. Given that the repair process is governed by the
recruitment and differentiation of cells to the site of injury, we are studying the
role of stem cells during healing. Using clinically relevant murine models, we are
identifying the source of endogenous stem cells during fracture repair, as well as
assessing the response of these cells to exogenous growth factors such as Bone
morphogenetic proteins (Bmps). Another area of research is to direct differentiation
of human embryonic stem cells into cell types that can repair the skeleton.
Pre-treated cells are introduced into the fracture site of mice in order to
determine the extent to which the cells will respond to environment cues and
integrate into the regenerating bone. The overall goal of this research is to
develop protocols for producing lines of skeletal progenitor cells that can
then be differentiated along osteogenic and chondrogenic pathways at will. These
basic research interests are complimented by a clinical research infrastructure that has had a primary focus on evaluating the
response of endogenous stem cells to different mechanical environments and growth factor treatments.
Selected Publications
Miclau, T, and Helms, J: Molecular aspects of fracture repair. Current Opinions in Orthopaedics 11:367-371, 2000.
Miclau, T, Colnot, CI, and Helms, JA: Molecular regulation of bone regeneration.
Molecular Biology in Orthopaedics, ed. by Rosier, R and Evans,C, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, pp. 251-263, 2003.
Lu C, Marcucio R, Miclau T. Assessing angiogenesis during fracture healing. Iowa Orthopaedic Journal, 2006, 26: 17-26.
Information last updated September 2007
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