Advanced Topics in Bone Biology

With the aging population and growing incidence of degenerative joint diseases and fragility fractures in North America and Europe, there is increasing awareness and interest in bone maintenance and loss in skeletal biology.  However, understanding bone fragility and other aspects of bone health is only possible with an appreciation of the multifactorial influences on bone maintenance.  Bone maintenance is related to a suite of complex and often closely related factors such as growth/development, genetics, mechanical usage, pathology, and life history.  This advanced seminar course will discuss these influences on bone health and maintenance from a unique biocultural and evolutionary perspective.  Some of the questions explored will be: how and why does bone tissue remodel?  How might having a light skeleton with a degree of biomechancial fragility have been selectively advantageous in the evolution of the human primate skeleton? how do aspects of bone quality, such as bone microarchitecture or matieral properties, play a role in bone maintenace?  Why does bone loss vary in different human populations?