UMass Amherst Researchers Develop Technique to Replicate Bone Remodeling Processes

A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) have developed a technique to replicate bone tissue complexity and bone remodeling processes. This breakthrough could help researchers further their study of bone biology and assist in improving development of drugs for osteoporosis.

Published in Science Advances today, the research team developed a new biomaterial they call demineralized bone paper. The team includes Jungwoo Lee, Yongkuk Park, Ryan Carpenter, chemical engineering; Eugene Cheong, biochemistry and microbiology; Jun-Goo Kwak, molecular and cellular biology graduate program; and Jae-Hyuck Shim of the UMass Medical School in Worcester.

The team developed a trabecular bone organoid model that reproduces essential extracellular complexity and cellular processes of trabecular bone cavities. Trabecular bone, or spongy bone, is a light, porous bone enclosing numerous large spaces that give a honeycombed or spongy appearance. Trabecular bones are the “shock absorbers” of the body, transferring mechanical loads from the articular surface to the cortical bone. These bones have a lower calcium content and more marrow content compared to cortical bone. Trabecular bone density decreases with aging.