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Composition of the Scientific Board

Missions and Tasks

Rossella Labella

Executive Board Liason, USA

    Annegreet Vlug

    Netherlands

      Alessandro Corsi

      Italy

        Michaela Reagan

        USA

        Labella Rossella obtained her Ph. D degree in innovative technologies in disease of skeleton, skin and oro-craniofacial district at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy in 2018. Her work focused on the role of Gsα signaling pathways in the physiology of the human postnatal skeleton. She worked on the generation and characterization of adipose specific mouse models of fibrous dysplasia (FD) demonstrating a causative role of adipose-committed bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) in FD development. Through her PhD projects, she developed a keen interest in the complex interaction between the different types of cells that reside in the bone and in the bone marrow microenvironment. Led by this interest, she joined Dr. Anjali Kusumbe’s Lab at Oxford University to study bone marrow stromal cells in development, homeostasis and after irradiation and chemotherapy.  She joined Dr.  Stavroula Kousteni’s lab in January 2020 for her postdoctoral studies and she is currently working on the dissection of the role of the bone marrow stroma in the MDS to AML transformation. She is now a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University, New York working of dissection of the role of the bone marrow stroma in the MDS to AML transformation. Organizing committee member of the First Bone Marrow Adiposity Summer School (Virtual 2021) and member of the Next Generation BMAS group.

        Clinical fellow in Endocrinology specializing in metabolic bone diseases at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam and the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Postdoctoral researcher in the Rosen Musculoskeletal Laboratory Maine Medical Center Research Institute, Scarborough, USA. Member of the Dutch Calcium and Bone Metabolism Society, European Calcified Tissue Society (ECTS), American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), Dutch Endocrine Society and European Society for Endocrinology (ESE), and the Endocrine Society. Member of the ECTS Academy and International Endocrine Scholar of the ESE. Current research focuses on the endocrine regulation of human bone marrow adiposity, with experience in clinical trials using MRI, histomorphometry and cell culture to assess bone marrow adiposity.

        Associate Professor of Pathology at the Department of Molecular Medicine of Sapienza University of Rome. Long-standing interest and experience in biology, physiology, pathology and biotechnology of the skeletal tissues. Member of the Italian Division of the International Academy of Pathology (SIAPEC-IAP), the Bone Marrow Adiposity Society (BMAS), the Haematopathology Group of the SIAPEC-IAP and the Working Group on Nomenclature for the BMAS. Scientific co-organizer of the 3rd International Meeting on Bone Marrow Adiposity (Lausanne 2017). Current research interest mainly focused on pathogenetic mechanisms and therapeutic strategies in Fibrous Dysplasia of bone, development and analysis of bone-bone marrow organoids and biological and functional properties of normal and skeletal disease-derived human post-natal skeletal stem/progenitor cells. Department of Medicine, Stellenbosch University. Our research focuses on the biology of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from fat and bone.

        Principal investigator in the Center for Molecular Medicine at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Scarborough, Maine.  Expertise in preclinical studies of multiple myeloma, cancer-induced bone disease, bone marrow adipocytes, tissue engineering, and osteocyte/adipocyte crosstalk. Member of ASBMR, ASH, and BMAS, a Board member of AIMM, and Chair of the Committee of Women in Bone and Mineral Research in the ASBMR.  Current research focuses on identifying mechanisms underlying marrow adipose effects on and responses to multiple myeloma cancer cells, and defining the relationship between marrow adipocytes and other cells in the bone, such as osteocytes and osteoblasts. Further details can be found here .

        Stephanie Lucas

        France

          Thomas Ambrosi

          USA

            Eleni Douni

            Outgoing BMA 2022 President, Greece

              Michaela Tencerová

              Czech Republic

              Principal investigator in the Marrow Adiposity and Bone Laboratory (MABLAb, previously named PMOI) at ULCO university in France, with expertise in adipocyte physiology and bone biology. Member of the French Society of Mineralized Tissues, the BMAS with review editing for Frontiers in Endocrinology. Current research aims at characterizing the regulation by metabolic factors of bone marrow adipocyte functions in relationship to bone alterations in obesity and Type 2 Diabetes using differentiated human Mesenchymal Stromal Cells, mouse models and clinical biopsies from patients.

              Assistant Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery at University of California Davis. His lab aims to delineate skeletal stem cell (SSC) diversity and niche composition in mice and humans to eventually identify novel molecular targets of endogenous stem cell communication, specifically between skeletal (adipogenic) and hematopoietic lineages. Thomas holds a German engineering diploma from Technical University Berlin and a master’s degree in Bioengineering from Dongseo University, South Korea. During his undergraduate studies at the Julius-Wolff-Institute for Biomechanics and Musculoskeletal Regeneration, Charité Berlin, he examined the effect of mechanical stimuli on lineage decisions of bone-resident stem cells. Thomas’ research in the lab of Dr. Tim J. Schulz earned him a Ph.D. from the University of Potsdam, Germany by delineating the developmental origin and function of bone marrow adipose tissue. Initially supported by a two-year postdoctoral scholarship from the German Research Foundation, he conducted his postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Charles Chan at Stanford University where he later received a prestigious National Institute on Aging K99/R00 Award to study skeletal stem cell biology with focus on aging.

              Associate Professor at the Department of Biotechnology of the Agricultural University of Athens and Associate Researcher at Biomedical Sciences Research Center “Alexander Fleming”, with expertise in Mouse Genetics and Modeling through Forward and Reverse Genetics approaches. Current research interests are focused on the mechanistic basis of bone marrow adipocyte formation in osteoporosis mouse models. 
              Further details can be found here  

              Michaela Tencerova is a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Physiology (IPHYS) of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. Through two abroad Postdoctoral trainings (UMASS Medical School, USA; SDU, Odense, Denmark) she moved her research interest from immunometabolism in obesity and diabetes to studying bone marrow adiposity and interactions between bone and stem cells metabolism in relation to metabolic diseases. Her lab is focused on studying the role of bone marrow adiposity in the regulation of bone and whole-body metabolism. She is a member of Scientific board of the Bone Marrow Adiposity Society (BMAS), ECTS Basic science committee, Committee of Women in Bone and Mineral Research in the ASBMR. She has obtained several young investigator awards and international and national grants.

                Gustavo Duque

                Canada

                  Ling Qin

                  USA

                  Kaisa Ivaska

                  Finland

                  Camille Attané

                  France

                  Gustavo Duque MD, Ph.D., FRACP, FGSA, is a geriatrician and a clinical and biomedical researcher with a particular interest in the mechanisms and treatment of osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and frailty in older persons. His initial training included Internal Medicine at Javeriana University (Colombia) and Geriatric Medicine, which he completed at McGill University in Montreal (Canada). Subsequently, he obtained his Ph.D. at McGill University in 2003 with a thesis entitled ‘Molecular Changes of the Aging Osteoblast’ under the supervision of Dr. Richard Kremer. Prof. Duque’s primary research interests include elucidating the mechanisms and potential new treatments for age-related bone loss, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, osteosarcopenia, and frailty. He is also looking at the effect of vitamin D, exercise, and proteins on bone and muscle mass. He is the Dr. Joseph Kaufmann Chair in Geriatric Medicine, Director of the Center for Research Excellence for Sustainable Health for Seniors at McGill University, and investigator at the McGill University Health Centre Research Institute. He is the author of more than 280 peer-reviewed articles and multiple book chapters and has edited five books in the aging and musculoskeletal fields (two on osteosarcopenia).

                  Principal investigator at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, with expertise on bone turnover, bone markers and marrow metabolism. Current research focuses on the crosstalk between bone cells and bone marrow adipocytes, with special interest in the role of bone-derived factors and the use of PET imaging to assess marrow adiposity.

                  Research Associate at the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology in Toulouse (France) in Catherine Muller’s lab (Microenvironment, Cancer and Adipocytes) with expertise in metabolism, adipocyte biology and cancer. Current research focuses on studying the role and the nature of the metabolic crosstalk between prostate cancer cells and bone marrow adipocytes in bone metastasis outgrowth. Member of the biobanking working group of the Bone Marrow Adiposity Society.

                  Jason Horton

                  USA

                    Drenka Trivanović

                    Serbia

                    Jason Horton is currently an assistant professor of Orthopedic Surgery, with joint appointments in Radiation Oncology and Cell & Developmental Biology at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse NY, USA. My laboratory studies the adverse consequences of cancer and cancer treatment on skeletal health, with particular interest in the pathophysiology of expansion in radiation-induced bone disease, which features rapid and profound expansion of marrow adipose tissue.

                    Postdoctoral scientists at the Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade (Serbia). Postdoctoral researcher at the IZKF Group at Orthopaedic department (University Hospital Wuerzburg, Germany). Expertise in mouse bone healing model, adipocyte/tumour cell crosstalk, flow cytometry, extracellular matrix and 3D cell-based modelling. Member of EACR, ECTS, EHA and BMAS. Current research focuses on identifying bone marrow adipocyte progenitors, defining lipid context of bone marrow microenvironment of patients with osteoarthritis, cancer and diabetes, and defining role of marrow adipose tissue in nutrient-modifying conditions, haematopoiesis and formation of metastatic niches.