The key distinction between bone and other organs, such as the kidney, heart, and liver, is that it is a hard, rigid, and dense material; properties that make it the ideal animal artefact in museums. These properties lead, however, to the common misconception that bones are dead, inert organs. This could not be further from the truth: in fact, living bone is an amazing material exhibiting powerful renewal and repair potential; older bone is constantly replaced with new bone. To understand the complexities of bone formation, remodelling, and structure in health and disease, we use cell and organ culture, gene-edited mice, and animal models of disease. Examples of ongoing research interests:Functional co-operativity of alkaline phosphatase and PHOSPHO1 during matrix vesicle mediated skeletal mineralisation.Matrix vesicle biogenesis by chondrocytes and osteoblasts.Anosteocytic fish.Preclinical studies of skeletal disease associated with chronic kidney disease, hypergastrinemia, androgen deprivation, and tumour-induced bone invasion. Dark-field STEM image of mitochondria in a chondrocyte that contains electron dense granules (arrows) and elemental mapping confirming the presence of Ca, P and O in those granules (Boonrungsiman et al. Acta Biomater. 2025) This article was published on 2025-09-17
