Ronald Kwon
University of Washington, WA·Genetics
Osteoporosis weakens bones and causes fractures in millions of people, and new drugs that build bone are badly needed. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which scan the genomes of many people, have found hundreds of DNA regions linked to bone mineral density (BMD), the main clinical measure of bone strength.
- Fields
Genetics
Biomedical Engineering
Biology
- Topics
osteoporosis
bone mineral density
skeletal biology
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2027
What they work on
- Identify genes near 56 bone mineral density-linked genomic regions that cause adult skeletal defects when disrupted, using a reverse genetic screen and a new phenotyping strategy in zebrafish.
- Use human genetic analyses to explore how each skeletal gene found in the zebrafish screen contributes to bone mineral density in people.
- Determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which genes at the 7q31.31 region, and their interactions with each other, influence bone mass and quality.
More about the research
But each region contains several candidate genes, and for hundreds of them it is unknown which ones actually affect bone. Testing genes in mice is too slow to fill this gap.
Why it matters
By 2050, osteoporosis is expected to affect more than half of Americans over 50, and hip fractures are rising sharply. By identifying which genes at BMD-linked regions truly affect bone, this work could reveal new drug targets for bone-building osteoporosis therapies. Regions linked to BMD are already rich in known osteoporosis drug targets.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Hui Shen
Tulane University of Louisiana, LA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Identify gut bacterial species and pathways associated with bone mineral density, trabecular bone score and CT-based bone strength in more than 5,000 participants from the Louisiana Osteoporosis Study, testing for effects of sex and ethnicity.
Martin Zhang
Carnegie Mellon University, PA·Genetics
Use multimodal single-cell and spatial genomics data to pinpoint, with high precision, the cell types and cellular contexts most important for diseases identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS).
John Fowlkes
University of Kentucky, KY·Physiology
Determine how deficiencies of insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) each contribute to diabetic bone disease at the tissue, cellular and molecular levels in models of type 1 diabetes.
The school
University of Washington: 81 labs on PI Pages, $1.7B a year on research, 694 research doctorates a year.
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