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8th BMAS Webinar Series - 29 September 2025
hosted by the BMAS Scientific Board.
FAT AND FATE: HOW BONE 
MARROW ADIPOCYTES SHAPE CANCER PROGRESSION
Dr. Camille Attané PhD, Research Associate in Microenvironment, Cancer and Adipocytes with the Muller Lab at the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology in Toulouse (France).
Brief synopsis of webinar: Our laboratory previously demonstrated that peritumoral adipocytes promote tumor progression by fueling cancer cells with fatty acids (FAs) released through the activation of lipolysis pathways in these adipocytes (Attané et al., Trends in Cancer, 2020). However, whether similar metabolic crosstalk exists with bone marrow adipocytes (BMAds) remains less well understood. Notably, primary human BMAds exhibit a distinct lipid metabolism — characterized by the absence of classical lipolysis — which may profoundly influence their interactions with cancer cells. In this presentation, I will review current knowledge on the role of BMAds in cancer progression, drawing from in vivo studies in rodent models, analyses of bone marrow biopsies from patients with hematological malignancies, and in vitro co-culture experiments. I will also present recent findings from our laboratory showing how BMAds release fatty acids that are transferred to prostate cancer cells, enhancing their migratory and invasive capacities (Hernandez et al., in preparation).
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Speaker Bio: Dr. Attané is a 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. Previous work highlighted the specific metabolism of human bone marrow adipocytes from yellow bone marrow published in Cell Reports as well as a STAR protocol for the isolation of these adipocytes. Dr. Attané is a member of the biobanking working group and serves on the the scientific board of the International Bone Marrow Adiposity Society.
7th BMAS Webinar Series - 30 June 2025
hosted by the BMAS Scientific Board.
NOVEL INSIGHTS INTO NUTRITIONAL REGULATION OF MARROW ADIPOSE
TISSUE
Dr. Clifford J. Rosen MD, Director of Clinical and Translational Research and Senior Scientist at Maine Medical Center’s Research Institute, and Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Dr. Rosen will describe the forms of nutritional intervention that affect the bone marrow, and discuss mechanistic aspects of both diet-induced obesity and calorie restriction as it relates to BMAT. He will also describe mitigation strategies and how interventions can prevent BMAT expansion.
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Speaker Bio: Dr. Rosen currently oversees the Rosen Musculoskeletal Laboratory at the Main Health Institute for Research and is a board certified endocrinologist. Dr. Rosen has thirty years of continuous NIH funding, first at The Jackson Laboratory and subsequently at MHIR. The central theme of the laboratory relates to stem cell biology and the interaction of bone and fat at the molecular level. He is the past president of the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research and previous council member of the National Advisory Committee on Aging (NIA). He also served a four-year term on the NIAMS council and the Endocrine Society. He has been an Associate Editor at New England Journal of Medicine for more than 9 years, and a Senior Editor at eLife. Dr. Rosen has published 635 peer-reviewed publications in Journals such as Nature, Nature Medicine, Cell, Cell Metabolism, PNAS, New England Journal, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Lancet. He currently serves as chair of the Steering Committee for CALERIE, an R33 from NIA evaluating the impact of calorie restriction in adults. He previously served as co-chair for the NIA Task Force on Minority Aging Research.
6th BMAS Webinar Series - 14 April 2025
hosted by the BMAS Scientific Board.
Neural Regulation of Bone Marrow Adipose Tissue
Dr. Erica Scheller DDS, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Executive Director of the WashU Center of Regenerative Medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis, MO, USA.
Abstract: Bone marrow adipose tissue, or BMAT, makes up ~70% of the adult human skeleton and contains up to 2-weeks of stored energy. Energy partitioning and utilization is generally controlled by the nervous and endocrine systems, facilitating the function of organs and cells throughout the body. In this seminar, we will discuss the regulation of both regulated and constitutive BMAT within the context of all adipose tissues, and how this regulatory system evolves in states such as end stage starvation and cachexia.
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Speaker Bio: Dr. Erica Scheller is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis. She is also the current Executive Director of the WashU Center of Regenerative Medicine and a Past President of the International Society of Bone Morphometry (ISBM). The Scheller Lab synthesizes concepts from cell biology, physiology, and bioengineering to study the relationships between the nervous system and the skeleton. We have a directed interest in understanding how neural signals contribute to skeletal and metabolic homeostasis, and how perturbations to this system contribute to bone loss, fracture risk and impaired healing in diseases such as diabetes and cachexia. As part of this, we have a longstanding commitment to the study of bone marrow adipose physiology and it’s role within the body.
Dr. Scheller obtained her combined DDS/PhD degree at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she graduated in 2011. She completed her post-doctoral training also at the University of Michigan, under the tutorship of Dr. Ormond McDougald, focusing on neuroendocrine regulation of fat and bone metabolism.