Bone Health & Fracture repair
An estimated 7.5 million Australians are currently osteoporotic/osteopenic and at high risk of fracture and the costs (both direct and indirect) of osteoporosis exceed $7 billion annually. Researchers at TRI are working on new and improved strategies to maintain peak bone health, rebuild fragile skeletons and/or reduce the impact of fracture.
Bone strength and integrity depend on bone mineral content, micro-architecture and biophysical properties. Preservation of peak bone health relies on continuous bone turnover/remodelling, a process that involves the balanced and coordinated activities of osteoclasts (OC) and osteoblasts (OB). Osteoporosis is a common disease that is a consequence of dysregulated bone turnover irrespective of whether it is disease-, treatment- or age-related. Net bone loss results from imbalanced bone turnover leading to bone fragility. The consequence of bone fragility is low energy fracture which is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality.
Associate Professor Allison Pettit leads the Bones and Immunology Research Group at Mater Research Instititute-UQ. A/Prof Pettit and her team's ongoing research includes:
- Investigating the molecular mediators involved in communication between cells involved in bone turnover and remodelling, and the impacts on reaching and maintaining peak bone health.
- The contribution of immune cells (in particular macrophages) to bone repair after injury/fracture - can these cells be targeted to accelerate fracture repair?
