Tomlinson:Research

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Research Goals Skeletal fracture is one of the most prevalent and costly medical issues in the United States, with direct costs exceeding $20 billion annually. In fact, some studies have shown that women over the age of 75 would rather be dead than suffer the consequences of a hip fracture. As a result, the overall goal of the Tomlinson lab is to determine novel mechanisms that augment bone strength and induce the rapid repair of skeletal fractures. In particular, the lab focuses on the functional role of sensory nerves and blood vessels in the skeletal response to mechanical forces and damage using small animal models. The Role of NGF-TrkA Sensory Nerve Signaling in Bone StressFracture Although sensory nerves are known to be present in mature bone, relatively little is understood about their function in the skeleton, aside from pain. Since nearly all sensory nerves in bone express TrkA, we first characterized the role of NGF-TrkA signaling during endochondral bone development using sensitive reporter and chemical-genetic knockout mice. In ongoing work, we are studying the role that NGF-TrkA signaling in sensory nerves may play in skeletal adaptation to mechanical loads. 1. Tomlinson RE, Li Z, Zhang Q, Goh BC, Li Z, Thorek DL, Rajbhandari L, Brushart TM, Minichiello L, Zhou F, Venkatesan A, Clemens TL. “NGF-TrkA Sensory Nerve Signaling Coordinates Vascularization and Ossification of Bone”, Cell Reports 2016; 16(10):2723-35. PMID: 27568565. 2. Tomlinson RE, Li Z, Riddle RC, Clemens TL. “Sensory Nerve Signals Mediate Skeletal Adaptation to Mechanical Loads”, in preparation. Other Research Areas Check out our Publications.