Research Updates: Kacena Laboratory

Researchers within the Kacena Laboratory at IU School of Medicine had an astounding final quarter for 2017 with several manuscripts published or accepted for publication between the months of September – December. Two of the main focus areas for the manuscripts include spaceflight bone healing studies and authorship trends in orthopaedic journals.

The following manuscripts detailed activities as the research team prepared for the launch of SpaceX-10 on Feb. 19, 2017 in which the Kacena Lab launched mice into space to study new bone healing therapies in a weightless environment:

1. Childress PC, Brinker A, Gong CMS, Harris J, Olivos, DJ, III, Rytlewski JD, Himes E, Choi SY, Shirazi-Fard Y, McKinley TO, Chu TMG, Conley CL, Chakraborty NM, Hammamieh R, Kacena MA. Forces associated with launch into space do not impact bone healing, but unloading does inhibit bone healing. Life Sci Space Res, 16:52-62, 2018. Overview: This manuscript details the research team’s launch simulation activities at NASA Ames and was featured in SPACELINE Current Awareness Lists, a weekly bibliography of new papers in the space life sciences.
2. Rytlewski JD, Childress PC, Scofield D, Khan F, Tucker A, Harris J, Peveler J, Hickman DL, Chu TMG, Kacena MA. Co-housing male mice, with and without segmental bone defect surgery, in preparation for bone-healing studies in microgravity. Comparative Med, in press. Overview: This manuscript demonstrates the Kacena Lab research team’s success at housing male mice together that have had femoral critical-sized defect surgery or not, in order to demonstrate to NASA the team’s ability to mix placebo mice with experimental mice in the spaceflight hardware.
3. Fischer JP, Wininger AE, Himes E, Chakraborty NM, Hammamieh R, Kacena MA. Fixation of while mouse hindlimbs using NASA spaceflight fixation kit. J Histotechnology, 40:115-120, 2017. COVER. Overview: This manuscript details the use of the NASA fixation kit and the quality of bone sections the research team can obtain for spaceflight specimens. The team’s micrographs were featured on the cover of the December issue.

Randall Loder, MD; Melissa Kacena, PhD; and a number of highly-motivated medical students have been working over the past year to collect data on publishing trends in the field of orthopaedic surgery with a focus on both the gender of first and corresponding authors and the geographical origin of manuscripts. The first four manuscripts noted below were accepted for publication during the last quarter of 2017. The second was highlighted in the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research member e-newsletters as a “Highlighted Manuscript”:

1. Khan F, Sandelski MM, Rytlewski JD, Lamb J, Pedro C, Adjei MBN, Lunsford S, Fischer JP, Wininger AE, Whipple EC, Loder RT, Kacena MA. Bibliometric analysis of authorship trends and collaboration dynamics over the past three decades of BONE’s publication history. Bone, 107:27-35, 2018.
2. Wininger AE, Fischer JP, Likine EF, Gudeman AS, Brinker AR, Ryu J, Maupin KA, Lunsford S, Whipple EC, Loder RT, Kacena MA. Bibliometric analysis of female authorship trends and collaboration dynamics over JBMR’s 30-Year History. J Bone Miner Res, in press. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.3232
3. Fischer JP, Wininger AE, Scofield DC, Tucker A, Kacena-Merrell EG, Whipple EC, Kacena MA, Loder RT. Historical analysis of bibliometric trends in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. J Ped Ortho, in press. doi: 10.1097/BPO.0000000000001124
4. Brinker AR, Liao J, Kraus KR, Young J, Sandelski M, Mikesell C, Robinson D, Adjei M, Lunsford S, Fischer J, Kacena MA, Whipple EC, Loder RT. Authorship trends in Spine: A bibliometric analysis from 1985-2015. Spine, in press.

The following are additional manuscripts from the Kacena Lab that were either published or accepted for publication during the fourth quarter of 2017:

1. Gu A, Sellamuthu R, Himes E, Childress P, Pelus LM, Orschell CM, Kacena MA. Alterations to maternal cortical and trabecular bone in multiparous middle-aged mice. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact, 17:312-318, 2017.
2. Mohamad SF, Xu L, Ghosh J, Childress PJ, Himes ER, Wu H, Alvarez MB, Davis KM, Aguilar-Perez A, Bruzzaniti A, Kacena MA, Srour EF. Osteomacs interact with megakaryocytes to regulate hematopoietic stem cell function. Blood Adv, 1:2520-2528, 2017. doi: https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2017011304
3. Williams JN, Kambrath AV, Patel RB, Kang KS, Mevel E, Li Y, Cheng Y-H, Pucylowski AJ, Hassert MA, Voor MJ, Kacena MA, Thompson WR, Warden SJ, Burr DB, Robling AG, Allen MR, Sankar U. Inhibition of CaMKK2 enhances fracture healing by stimulating Indiana Hedgehog expression and accelerating endochondral ossification. J Bone Miner Res, in press.