Approved Research

Identifying regulatory genes involved in bone mechanosensing and mechanotransduction

Lay summary

Bones bear the weight of the human body, the normal function of bone is essential for human life. Bone health depends on many kinds of signal regulation, among which external physical stimulation is the important aspect. For example, physical exercise could improve our bone mass, while reduced activity due to prolonged bed rest will result in significant bone loss. However, until now we still don't have a comprehensive understanding of how bone is adaptive to these physical stimulations. The project plans to use the Biobank database to analyze genetic mutations associated with human bone health and daily physical activity. This project will contribute to future development on intervention and treatment to improve bone health in humans. It is anticipated that the whole project will take around three years.