Speakers

Chike Cao, PhD

Assistant Professor - Department of Orthopaedics , Center for Musculoskeletal Research, University of Rochester Medical Center

Dr. Cao received an MS in Cell & Molecular Biology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 2004, and PhD in Pharmacology and Physiology from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark in 2007. After completing her post-doctoral training at the Mayo Clinic and Duke University, Dr. Cao joined Weill Cornell Medicine as an instructor in 2017, before being recruited to the University of Rochester Medical Center and joining the CMSR as an Assistant Professor in the summer of 2020.   Dr. Cao’s research is focused on understanding the physiological roles of calcium channels in musculoskeletal development and regeneration, and the development of therapeutics to target these channels and/or their downstream factors to help prevent and treat musculoskeletal diseases. Her primary interest is to understand voltage-gated calcium channel signaling, and the molecular basis of the specific calcium-dependent cellular processes downstream of calcium channels, during bone and tendon formation and regeneration. More recently, she investigated the function of the L-type CaV1.2 Ca2+ channels—a channel previously considered to function only in excitable tissues—in non-excitable bones and tendons, and found that a gain-of-function mutant CaV1.2 promotes bone and tendon formation, including pathologies associated with these tissues such as heterotopic osssification, which is one of the foci of new lab in the CMSR.

Awards

• 2017 Harold M. Frost Young Investigator award
• 2017 Young Investigator Travel Grant, ASBMR, Denver, Colorado
• 2019 Blue Ribbon Poster Award, ORS 48th international Musculoskeletal Biology Workshop, Sun Valley, Idaho
• 2019 Alice L. Jee Young Investigator Award, ORS 48th international Musculoskeletal Biology Workshop Sun Valley, Idaho

Chia-Lung Wu, PhD

Dr. Wu received an MS in Materials Science and Engineering from the National Taiwan University in 2005, and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in 2015. After completing his post-doctoral training at Washington University in Saint Louis, he joined the CMSR as an Assistant Professor in the Fall of 2020. Dr. Wu’s research

interest is to examine the role of genetic and epigenetic regulation in cell fate decisions into musculoskeletal lineages as well as onset and progression musculoskeletal diseases using multidisciplinary approaches including next-generation sequencing technology, bioinformatics, pluripotent stem cells, and animal models. Since his post-doctoral training, he has applied his expertise to study embryonic chondrogenesis using next-generation sequencing techniques (i.e., both bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing) as well as human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) as a model system. He recently established a robust step-wise chondrogenic differentiation protocol for hiPSCs via specification of paraxial mesoderm. This protocol is built upon the elucidation of the gene regulatory network governing chondrogenesis and can efficiently generate clinically relevant, large scale numbers of chondrocytes without cell sorting. His new lab in the CMSR aspires to extend our understanding of the epigenetic regulation of chondrogenesis and limb development, and to provide novel insights into the homeostasis of cartilage, as well as the refinement of new strategies for cartilage repair and regeneration.

Awards

• 2014 The New Investigator Recognition Awards (NIRA), Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS)
• 2018 The New Investigator Recognition Awards (NIRA), Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS)
• 2019 NIH NIAMS K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award – 1K99AR075899
• 2020 ON Foundation Award, Orthoregeneration Network Foundation

Guest of Honor

Randy Rosier, MD

Professor Emeritus of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and Biochemistry and Biophysics University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY

Dr. Rosier received an MS in biophysics from the University of Rochester in 1977, MD degree in 1978, and PhD in biophysics in 1979.  After his Orthopaedic training at the University of Iowa, Dr. Rosier returned to Rochester to join the faculty of the Department of Orthopaedics and create an Orthopaedic Oncology service.  In addition, Dr. Rosier established a molecular biology research program in the area of growth factor regulation of cartilage development and regeneration, and an Osteoporosis Center for the treatment of metabolic bone diseases.

In 2000, Dr. Rosier became Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics, and established the Center for Musculoskeletal Research which he directed.  The Orthopaedic research program of the Center, which focuses on bone and cartilage healing and regeneration, arthritis and gene therapy,  tissue engineering, osteoporosis, and treatments for implant loosening  and cancer bone metastasis, has become ranked as the number one NIH funded Orthopaedic research program in the United States.  In March of 2007, Dr. Rosier discontinued his Departmental administrative roles to devote more time to directing a new Center of Translational Research, his ongoing research programs in osteoarthritis and skeletal lead toxicity, and his clinical practice of orthopaedic oncology.

Dr. Rosier served as a director of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons, a member of the board of directors of the Orthopaedic Research Society and has been a member of the University of Rochester Medical Center Board, and the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.  He has chaired the Education and Critical Issues Committees of the American Orthopaedic Association, and the Committee on Biological Implants of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.  He has authored over 140 peer reviewed publications, 30 book chapters, and 275 published abstracts on research topics, with a focus on  molecular biology of skeletal tissues, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, orthopaedic oncology, and clinician-scientist development.

Awards

• 2009 The Alfred R. Shands Jr, MD Award, American Ortho Association and the Orthopaedic Research Society
• 2009 Best Doctors in America for Tumor Surgery
• 1998 Dean's Professorship, University of Rochester
• 1995 Kappa Delta Award for outstanding orthopaedic research