ISCRM faculty member Ron Kwon, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, and the director of the Musculoskeletal Systems Biology Lab. There are two broad areas of interest for Kwon and his team. The first area of interest is skeletal genetics – the study of how genetic variation influences musculoskeletal tissue development, repair, and risk for diseases like osteoporosis.
At the same time, the lab is also trying to answer a question that has tantalized scientists for centuries. Why are some animals, including zebrafish and salamanders, able to regrow bony appendages such as limbs after amputation – and could something in the biology of these animals teach us to someday regenerate human limbs?
