David Reed
University of Illinois Chicago, IL·Biology
The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) connects the jaw to the skull. Disorders of this joint affect 3–7% of people, and osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common cause.
- Fields
Biology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Physiology
- Topics
temporomandibular joint
osteoarthritis
TMJ disorders
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- Test whether injury-induced loss of Collagen VI drives cartilage degeneration in a surgically induced mouse model of TMJ osteoarthritis.
- Determine whether cleavage of NG2, a chondrocyte receptor that binds Collagen VI, suppresses autophagy and promotes chondrocyte death in TMJ cartilage.
- Define how NG2 binding to Collagen VI maintains autophagy through the mTORC1 signaling pathway in TMJ fibrochondrocytes.
More about the research
In TMJ OA, the cartilage breaks down and the cartilage cells (chondrocytes) die. One reason these cells die is that autophagy is switched off. Autophagy is a protective process in which cells recycle damaged parts. Still, it is unclear how mechanical and inflammatory stress lead to that loss of protection.
Why it matters
Many patients with advanced TMJ osteoarthritis need total joint replacement with an artificial joint. By defining how matrix damage turns off cartilage cells' protective machinery, this work could reveal new therapeutic targets. Treatments aimed at the Col VI–NG2–autophagy pathway might slow or reverse cartilage degeneration and help patients keep their natural jaw joint.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
X. Lucas Lu
University of Delaware, DE·Biomedical Engineering
Determine whether statin use is linked to lower rates of osteoarthritis in the Delaware population, using a retrospective cohort study of existing health records.
Chia-Lung Wu
University of Rochester, NY·Biomedical Engineering
Determine how mechanical loading switches on WNT16 in chondrocytes through the force-sensing calcium channel TRPV4, by loading human stem cell-derived and hip chondrocytes in agarose gels and sequencing their genetic and epigenetic controls.
Mark Grimes
University of Montana, MT·Biomedical Engineering
Test whether seeding human neural crest stem cells in 3D hydrogel scaffolds with extracellular matrix components identified in organoids makes craniofacial cartilage faster and more reproducibly than self-organizing organoids.
The school
University of Illinois Chicago: 42 labs on PI Pages, $532M a year on research, 359 research doctorates a year.
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