Research

Click to see enlarged photo of mouse tibial growth plate showing cartilage matrix in red and alkaline phosphatase activity in blue, and caption.

Developmental Biology Section

Rocky Tuan, Ph.D.
Acting Chief, Developmental Biology Section
Cartilage Biology and Orthopaedics Branch (CBOB)
Phone: (301) 451-6854
Fax: (301) 402-2724
E-mail: tuanr@mail.nih.gov

Research Overview

The activities of the Developmental Biology Section are targeted to studying and analyzing the basic cellular and molecular mechanisms governing the development, patterning, growth, maturation, and aging of skeletal tissues, particularly those involving cartilage. Multidisciplinary approaches, utilizing technologies derived from cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics, and both in vitro and in vivo experimental models, are applied to studies on gene regulation, signal transduction, cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, and cell differentiation. A special emphasis is the identification of signals and mechanisms responsible for tissue morphogenesis as well as the perturbations, both genetic and acquired, that lead to skeletal dysmorphogenesis during development. This information serves as powerful paradigms for understanding the molecular basis of human skeletal diseases.


 

Updated September 17, 2007