Collaboration Catalyzes Progress in Organogenesis Research
Start with a cup of coffee. Add some spirited conversation and mutual respect between clinician and developmental scientist, toss in some challenging unknowns, and you have the beginning of a promising collaboration.
It was over coffee that Chris Wylie, PhD, director of Developmental Biology at Cincinnati Children's, and A. Atiq Durrani, MD, co-director of the Center for Spinal Disorders, started talking about the treatment of children with scoliosis. Current options are limited to wearing an external metal frame up to 23 hours a day or having a steel rod implanted. A major obstacle to developing less restrictive treatments is lack of basic knowledge about how vertebrae grow.
Research being conducted through the organogenesis initiative could one day help scoliosis patients like CJ Sultini, pictured here at an appointment with orthopaedist Alvin Crawford, MD.
"We don't even know how vertebrae grow in a straight line, never mind how they grow crooked. So we started a project, using mouse and rabbit model systems to map the signaling pathways that control bone growth at times corresponding to the most rapid growth phase in children, when scoliotic changes can become most obvious and do the most harm," Dr. Wylie explains. "In time, this basic map could lead to therapeutic interventions. For example, if vertebrae on one side of the spinal column are found to grow too slowly, causing the spine to bend in that direction, a pump might be implanted to inject normal growing cells, or growth stimulators, into the slow-growing side. But first, we need to build up our basic knowledge, so we know what to inject."
Dr. Wylie leads the new organogenesis initiative at Cincinnati Children's. This initiative builds on work already underway, while seeking to answer questions about how cells differentiate to form the functional cells of organs, and how differentiating cells might be used to replace damaged cells. "We know that undifferentiated cells are present in skin, blood and muscles of children, but what about all the other organs?" Dr. Wylie asks. "Could we, one day, use these cells to replace bone in children with crippling bone disease? Or replace kidney cells in children who may die while they are waiting for transplants?"
By recruiting additional clinicians and basic scientists, the organogenesis initiative also builds on the strength Cincinnati Children's has shown in integrating basic and clinical research. "We have to generate research groups that contain clinicians who see congenital diseases at our clinics, as well as basic scientists who have the technology and training to try to figure out what's gone wrong. Insights from both will be necessary for translation of results," Dr. Wylie says. "One thing that will be absolutely essential to catalyze forward progress in organogenesis research is collaboration."
