Chondrocyte Mechanotransduction: Metabolomic and Proteomic Analyses

Abstract: Several studies have documented the importance of metabolism to osteoarthritis. This seminar will discuss recent advances in understanding how chondrocytes alter their metabolism in response to in vitro mechanical loading.  Furthermore, metabolomic studies of osteoarthritic  synovial  fluid  will  be  discussed in the  context  of  early  detection  and  phenotypes  of osteoarthritis.

Biographical Sketch: Ron June has longstanding research interests in osteoarthritis and biomechanics related to improving human health.  At Dartmouth College he studied Engineering Sciences focused on biomechanics and developed a novel wrist protection strategy, contributed to the design and manufacture of a system for monitoring 3D head accelerations in helmeted sports, and helped to develop a finite element model to understand the biomechanics of spinal pain in rats.  As a graduate student at the University of California, Davis, Dr. June studied cartilage biomechanics.  Specifically, he investigated a novel mechanism of cartilage flow-independent viscoelasticity.  During the course of this project, he discovered novel biomechanical phenomena and made several experimental observations that are consistent with polymer dynamics as a potential physiological mechanism of cartilage viscoelasticity.  As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. June has implemented a surgical model of  mouse  osteoarthritis  and  studied  protein  transduction.    He  developed  a  pH-sensitive  system  for intracellular delivery of macromolecules and has investigated protein transduction in cartilage and chondrocytes.   Dr. June’s laboratory at Montana State University was completed in March 2012, and his research involves applying modern techniques to advance understanding of osteoarthritis and joint biology. He has applied both targeted and untargeted metabolomic profiling to mechanobiological questions. Dr. June has been named a GAANN Fellow, NIH Kirchstein Fellow, and the Montgomery Street Scholar by the ARCS Foundation.  His long-term research interests lie in understanding cartilage and joint mechanobiology to develop novel therapeutic strategies for joint disease.