The impact of the skeleton on organismal physiology

Gérard Karsenty, MD, PhD
Principal Investigator
Paul A. Marks M.D. Professor and Chair,
Department of Genetics and Development
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
New York, USA

This conference is hosted by Mathieu Ferron, PhD.

In person: 
IRCM Auditorium
110, avenue des Pins O, H2W 1R7 Montreal

Online :
Zoom link : https://zoom.us/j/95269762104
ID : 952 6976 2104
Code : 476372

About this conference
After a brief introduction of the rationale of our work, this seminar will present progress in two general laboratory directions.  The first one is to use osteocalcin as a tool to understand how the endocrinology of gestation impacts homeostasis in adult animals and, eventually on, the appearance of manifestations of aging.  A second direction of research is to harness osteocalcin biology for therapeutic purposes. The disease we currently target is sarcopenia and, more precisely, the decrease in muscle function and exercise capacity that characterizes the disease.

About Gérard Karsenty
In the last 30 years, his laboratory has studied every aspect of skeletal biology ranging from development to physiology. Specifically in deli-mental biology, his laboratory deciphered the molecular bases of osteoblast-specific gene expression. This work culminated in his identification of Runx2 as the master gene of osteoblast differentiation. This was followed by identifying an entire cascade of transcription factors regulating osteoblast differentiation and of Gcm2 as the master gene of parathyroid gland development. In approaching the physiology of the skeleton, the Karsenty lab asked the general question as to whether bone may have other functions besides making bone. To address this question, the Karsenty lab proposed that there is a coordinated control endocrine in nature of bone mass, energy metabolism, and fertility. The Karsenty lab has verified in the mouse and, whenever possible, all tenets of this hypothesis in humans.  One of them is that bone should be an endocrine organ regulating energy metabolism and reproduction. This led to identifying osteocalcin as a bone-derived hormone needed for insulin secretion, glucose homeostasis, testosterone secretion by Leydig cells of the testes and male fertility, brain development, cognition adaptation to exercise, and several other physiological processes. Currently, work in the laboratory focuses on two distinct general directions. One is to elucidate the temporal and molecular mechanisms of action of osteocalcin; the second one is to harness the biology of this hormone to treat age-related diseases.

List of Published Work

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