Advancing Orthopedic Research: Exploring Obesity Impact, Microbiome Role, and Disease-Modifying Treatments"

The central focus of our research can be divided programmatically into three parts:  1) Study of the pathological impact of obesity on the skeleton, particularly bone and joint health and fracture healing, 2) Elucidating the role of the gut microbiome in posttraumatic and obesity-associated osteoarthritis, and 3) Development of disease-modifying treatments to address joint degeneration in osteoarthritis.  Our work spans from bench to bedside, involving basic molecular-cellular biology and microbiology in microbial and cell culture systems, state-of-the-art animal models of disease, and human clinical trials.  Our aim is to pursue a basic study of skeletal homeostasis and disease, using information gained from that work to develop therapeutic strategies addressing key orthopedic challenges including fracture non-union, osteoporosis, and osteoarthritis.