The Neuroskeletal Biology Laboratory at Washington University (Scheller Lab)

Welcome to Dr. Hassan as he officially joins the lab to begin his postdoctoral fellowship training. In addition, congratulations to Mohamed on his acceptance into the Leadership and Management in Action Program in the division of Postdoctoral Affairs at Washington University for Fall of 2021.

Anurag is an undergraduate student at Washington University majoring in Biology: Neuroscience. He is currently working to identify cerebral regions of leptin sensitivity or abnormality in response to chronically high leptin levels. Anna is an undergraduate student studying Biomedical Engineering at Washington University. She will be assisting in bone scan analysis and projects investigating bioelectric […]

Bone marrow adipocytes accumulate with age and in diverse disease states. However, their origins and adaptations in these conditions remain unclear, impairing our understanding of their context-specific endocrine functions and relationship with surrounding tissues. In this study, by analyzing bone and adipose tissues in the lipodystrophic ‘fat-free’ mouse, we define a novel, secondary adipogenesis pathway […]

Background/Aims: Bioelectric nerve stimulation (eStim) is an emerging clinical paradigm that can promote nerve regeneration after trauma, including within the context of diabetes. However, its ability to prevent the onset of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) has not yet been evaluated. Beyond the nerve itself, DPN has emerged as a potential contributor to sarcopenia and bone disease; […]

Bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT) is an important cellular component of the skeleton. Understanding how it is regulated by the nervous system is crucial to the study of bone and bone marrow related diseases. BMAT is innervated by sympathetic and sensory axons in bone and fluctuations in local nerve density and function may contribute to […]

Nerves in bone play well‐established roles in pain and vasoregulation and have been associated with progression of skeletal disorders including osteoporosis, fracture, arthritis and tumor metastasis. However, isolation of the region‐specific mechanisms underlying these relationships is limited by our lack of quantitative methods for neuroskeletal analysis and precise maps of skeletal innervation. To overcome these […]

The detection and quantification of protein biomarkers in interstitial fluid is hampered by challenges in its sampling and analysis. Here we report the use of a microneedle patch for fast in vivo sampling and on-needle quantification of target protein biomarkers in interstitial fluid. We used plasmonic fluor—an ultrabright fluorescent label—to improve the limit of detection […]

Immunostaining is the process of identifying proteins in tissue sections by incubating the sample with antibodies specific to the protein of interest, then visualizing the bound antibody using a chromogen (immunohistochemistry or IHC) or fluorescence (immunofluorescence or IF). Unlike in situ hybridization, which identifies gene transcripts in cells, immunostaining identifies the products themselves and provides […]

Dr. Hassan was recently selected as the 2020 recipient of the Rita Levi-Montalcini Postdoctoral Fellowship in Regenerative Medicine by the Washington University Center of Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Hassan is a dentist-scientist with training in Orthodontics and will join the lab in the Summer of 2021 to begin his work. Congratulations, Mohamed!

After 4 years of hard work, Madelyn Lorenz was selected to present her new Neuroskeletal Atlas of the Mouse Limb as a featured oral presentation at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) annual meeting. The Atlas is currently in preparation for publication and we anticipate having it available for preliminary use through […]

Congratulations to postdoctoral fellow Dr. Jennifer Brazill and her co-authors on publishing the 3rd most downloaded paper from JBMR over the past year – “Nerves in Bone: Evolving Concepts in Pain and Anabolism”.  This speaks to the high quality of the article and the emerging interest in the field. Great work!

Xiao Zhang won two of the prestigious awards for research at the recent BMA2020 meeting. After an independent committee review, his oral presentation “Fat in a fatless mouse: a novel origin of maladapted bone marrow adipocytes with age and disease” won 1st place in the best abstract category. In addition, his 2nd abstract “Neural contributions […]

The 6th Annual Meeting of the Bone Marrow Adiposity Society (BMA2020), co-organized by our very own Dr. Scheller, was quite the event. With 55 abstracts, 11 invited speakers, 205 attendees, and even a live trivia event hosted by American Ninja Warrior’s Alex Weber – it was one for the books. Congratulations to Dr. Scheller on […]

Hero has been with us in the lab from the beginning, first as an undergraduate and then as a technician. We will miss him greatly, but are so proud to have been part of his journey to becoming a medical professional. Best of luck Hero!

Great to see this manuscript come together in the Cawthorn lab after many years of hard work, including his brand new BMAT imaging and analysis techniques and lots of lingering data generated by Drs. Cawthorn and Scheller when they worked together as postdocs in the MacDougald lab (Dr. Scheller made some of the blots in […]

Dr. Scheller was elected to serve as a 2020 – 2022 board member for the International Society of Bone Morphometry (ISBM). She will work with the society and board to develop the field of skeletal imaging and morphology, including hosting the 2022 ISBM meeting in Denmark.

Mr. Beeve was selected as a recipient of the Department of Bioengineering travel award to attend the BMES conference in San Diego, CA where he will present his work on the acute and chronic regulation of bone by bioelectric stimulation of the sciatic nerve. Congratulations Alec!

Ms. Ivana Shen was awarded a 2020 BioSURF fellowship to pursue her work on the relationship between nerve quality and bone health in mice and humans with diabetes. Congratulations, Ivana!

Dr. Scheller was hosted by Dr. Tamara Alliston and the to UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery to present the ongoing work in the laboratory pertaining to neural regulation of skeletal pathophysiology as part of the CCMBM seminar series.  She then traveled to the UCLA School of Dentistry to visit with Dr. Paul Krebsbach and to […]