Histology, Biomechanics, and Human Tissue Core

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT – CORE C The goal of the Histology, Biomechanics, and Human Tissue Core (Core C) is to provide state-of-the-art services for the characterization of tissue and cellular changes that underlie the pathological mechanisms of skeletal diseases in both mice and humans. The core will provide 3 services: 1) high quality and reliable hard- tissue histology services that will help investigators identify the cellular basis of musculoskeletal changes and formulate new mechanistic hypotheses for disease processes; 2) comprehensive in vivo and ex vivo biomechanical testing to quantify the mechano-responsiveness, quality, and strength of the skeleton under physiological and pathological conditions; and 3) banking and access to human tissue samples from hip replacement surgeries and bone marrow cells with their associated clinical data from patients with various conditions. This is a novel component that will expand the translational research opportunities in the Center for Musculoskeletal Disease Research (CMDR) for Project Leaders, CMDR faculty, and eventually additional researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and affiliated institutions. The core will be essential to accomplish the goals of each Phase 2 research project. Core C will extensively interact with the other cores of the CMDR by providing histological and biomechanical analysis for new mouse models created by the Genetic Mouse Model Core (Core B), working with the Bone Imaging Core (Core D) for biomechanical analysis and providing samples for histomorphometric analysis, and collaborating with the Bioinformatics Core (Core E) for developing spatial transcriptomics. Overall, the Histology, Biomechanics, and Human Tissue Core provides unique and essential services and thereby significantly expands the musculoskeletal research infrastructure at UAMS and its affiliates.