Frank Beier
Profile and Department: Professor, Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University
Lab: Beier Lab
Research Interests:
The majority of our skeleton – for example the ribs, vertebrae and the bones of our limbs – form through the process of endochondral ossification in which the later bone is first laid down as a cartilage model. The cells of the cartilage, the chondrocytes, control the length, shape and function of endochondral bones. Our lab is interested in the signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms that regulate the biology of chondrocytes and other skeletal cells. In this context, we follow three overlapping areas of research:
- One focus of the lab is the role of intracellular signaling pathways in chondrocytes;
- A second line of investigation addresses the roles of transcriptional regulators of chondrocyte differentiation;
- Our third area of interest is the molecular mechanisms involved in the progression of osteoarthritis.