Mentor Areas
Work in our laboratory includes a variety of approaches and techniques including:
-Preclinical models of arthritis (including rodent and large animals, surgical and joint-loading models of post-traumatic OA)
-Measurement of animal activity and joint function
-Tissue analysis techniques (tissue fixation and sectioning, histology and pathologic analysis, immunostaining, microscopy)
-microCT imaging of bone and joints
-In vitro studies of joint cells (including chondrocytes, osteoblasts, osteoclasts, synoviocytes and macrophages)
-Molecular techniques (qPCR, Western blotting, ELISA and multiplex analyses)
-Cellular analysis (flow cyotmetry, imaging mass cytometry)
Description:
A central role for synovial inflammation and inflammatory pathway activation in mediating the effects of biomechanical joint injury has been implicated in post-traumatic OA. We have taken a bedside-to-bench approach to focus our preclinical work on mechanisms relevant to human disease. Our lab has identified several pathways and mediators associated with synovial pathology, macrophage activation, and pain in patients with OA, including chemokine and Toll-like receptor-mediated pathways. We are now exploring a functional role for these pathways on structural and symptomatic outcomes, including structural and functional joint degeneration and joint pain-related behavior in preclinical models. In these studies, we aim to better understand the inflammatory response to joint tissue injuries resulting from a variety of insults, and in doing so understand the factors that allow the post-injury inflammatory response to become chronic, perpetuating chronic joint pain and degeneration. We anticipate that these investigations will be applicable not only to OA, but to a broad range of musculoskeletal disorders characterized by tissue injury, chronic inflammation, and pain. The ultimate goal of the laboratory is to get back to the bedside, by developing novel targeted approaches to modulate the inflammatory environment of the joint to prevent arthritis development after a joint injury and to treat existing OA.
Preferred Qualifications
We are seeking self-motivated, reliable undergraduate students who enjoy working in a collaborative team environment, and have interest or basic expertise in immunology, molecular biology, biological sciences, rheumatology or musculoskeletal health and disease. Training will be provided for basic research activities.
Our laboratory is located at the VA Medical Center, and the interested student will need to have a VA appointment. We can facilitate this, but it can take up to 2 months for approval, so applicants will need to reach out to us early.
Project Website
Learn more about the researcher and/or the project here. https://www.carlascanzello.com/
Details:
Preferred Student Year
Second-Year, Junior, Senior
Academic Term
Fall, Spring, Summer
I prefer to have students start during the above term(s).Volunteer
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to volunteers.Paid
No
Yes indicates that faculty are open to paying students they engage in their research, regardless of their work-study eligibility.Work Study
No
Yes indicates that faculty are open to hiring work-study-eligible students.