Roy Morello, Ph.D., an Associate Professor in the departments of Physiology & Biophysics, Orthopaedic Surgery and Division of Genetics, and John L. Carroll, M.D., a Professor of Pediatrics and Physiology & Biophysics (James H. Hamlen II Endowed Chair in Pediatric Pulmonology), have just published a new manuscript entitled: “Respiratory Defects in the CrtapKO mouse model of osteogenesis imperfecta” in the American Journal of Physiology: Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology.
This work demonstrates intrinsic respiratory system defects in a mouse model of osteogenesis imperfecta and provides a physiological explanation for the respiratory distress in the neonatal period and the progressive impairment in adult pulmonary function tests that is often observed in individuals with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI or brittle bone disease). The research is supported by NIH funds (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health) and by the UAMS College of Medicine Research Scholar Pilot Grant Award in Child Health.
Other co-authors of this research were Drs. Milena Dimori, Melissa E. Heard-Lipsmeyer, Richard C. Kurten, Stephanie D. Byrum, and Samuel D. Mackintosh.
Dr. Morello was invited to present the data at the Annual Meeting of the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation (OIF) to be held in Chicago on April 1-3, 2020, however, the meeting was postponed to the fall due to the COVID-19 emergency. Dr. Morello has a long-term relationship with the OIF, who supported him in the past during his post-doctoral research and regularly invites him to attend its annual research meetings. Dr. Morello also accepted the invitation to join this year’s OIF Medics on the March Fundraiser during which members of the OI medical community will walk for 50 miles in two days to raise awareness for OI.