The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Laurie Glimcher, M.D., Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean, Weill Cornell Medical College

Speaker bio(s)

The adult skeleton completely remodels itself every ten years. In contrast to their role in embryonic development, little is known about the genes that control post-natal skeletal remodeling. Dr. Glimcher and her colleagues discovered that mice lacking the adaptor protein Schnurri-3 (Shn3) display a profound high bone mass phenotype due to augmented anabolic bone formation. In addition to regulating bone formation by osteoblasts in a cell-intrinsic manner, Shn3 indirectly controls bone resorption in vivo. In most instances, bone formation is coupled with bone resorption, which limits the efficacy of the currently marked anti-resorptives. In this instance, however, they demonstrate that these two processes can be uncoupled by genetic manipulation of Shn3, raising the possibility that its inhibition would be beneficial in the setting of diseases of low bone mass such as osteoporosis, lytic cancer metastases and erosive arthritides. Dr. Glimcher and colleagues have recently used both unbiased and Schnurri-3-biased forward genetic RNAi screens coupled with extensive gene profiling analyses and small molecule screens to assemble a picture of osteoblast signaling pathways proximal to or instigated by Schnurri3. These analyses have provided novel targets in osteoblasts that control adult bone mass.

Dr. Glimcher received her M.D. from Harvard Medical School and completed postdoctoral training at Harvard and in the Laboratory of Immunology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. She is board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology. Dr. Glimcher is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Leukemia Society’s Stohlman Memorial Scholar Award, the Arthritis Foundation’s Lee S. Howley Award, the American Society of Clinical Investigation Investigator Award, the Huang Meritorious Career Award and the Dean’s Award for Leadership in the Advancement of Women Faculty among others. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of both the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.

Open to

Public

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Gloria Phipps

Phone

(212) 327-8967

Sponsor

Gloria Phipps
(212) 327-8967
phippsg@rockefeller.edu