Bisphosphonate conjugation enhances the bone-specificity of NELL-1-based systemic therapy for spaceflight-induced bone loss in mice.

Microgravity-induced bone loss results in a 1% bone mineral density loss monthly and can be a mission critical factor in long-duration spaceflight. Biomolecular therapies with dual osteogenic and anti-resorptive functions are promising for treating extreme osteoporosis. We previously confirmed that NELL-like molecule-1 (NELL-1) is crucial for bone density maintenance.

Neural EGFL like 1 as a potential pro-chondrogenic, anti-inflammatory dual-functional disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug.

Arthritis, an inflammatory condition that causes pain and cartilage destruction in joints, affects over 54.4 million people in the US alone. Here, for the first time, we demonstrated the emerging role of neural EGFL like 1 (NELL-1) in arthritis pathogenesis by showing that Nell-1-haploinsufficient (Nell-1) mice had accelerated and aggravated osteoarthritis (OA) progression with elevated inflammatory markers in both spontaneous primary OA and chemical-induced secondary OA models.

Using an Engineered Galvanic Redox System to Generate Positive Surface Potentials that Promote Osteogenic Functions.

Successful osseointegration of orthopaedic and orthodontic implants is dependent on a competition between osteogenesis and bacterial contamination on the implant-tissue interface. Previously, by taking advantage of the highly interactive capabilities of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), we effectively introduced an antimicrobial effect to metal implant materials using an AgNP/poly(dl-lactic- co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) coating. Although electrical forces have been shown to promote osteogenesis, creating practical materials and devices capable of harnessing these forces to induce bone regeneration remains challenging.