Kathleen Becker was appointed chair of the Nerves in Bone working group under the International Society of Bone Morphometry (ISBM). ISBM’s mission is to advance skeletal imaging and therapeutics through collaboration and research, with a strong focus on quantitative analysis. Our working group brings together scientists from around the world to establish standardized protocols and guidelines for imaging and quantifying nerves in bone. This includes—but is not limited to—techniques for bone clearing, staining, imaging, and nerve fiber quantification. Our ultimate goal is to create clear, accessible documentation of current methodologies, their applications, and existing knowledge gaps, making innervation research in bone more accessible to the broader scientific community.
This initiative stems directly from the collaborative efforts of Peter Caradonna and Phil Long from the UNE Histology and Imaging Core, along with the Becker Laboratory and Dr. Tamara King. Together, we have developed a novel pipeline that removes lipids to make bone transparent, significantly enhancing our ability to visualize nerves both on the surface and deep within the bone. These techniques are expected to provide valuable insights into the role of innervation in regulating bone mineral density and fracture healing. This work was initially supported by a pilot project through the Center for Pain Research and is now funded by an R16 SuRE-First grant awarded to the Becker laboratory.
Several members of the Becker Laboratory are actively contributing to this research, including Talia Lizotte, Sarah Porter, Julia Baracewicz (COM OMS3), Ashley Walter (COM OMS3), and Anna Erb (URI ’26). Additionally, findings from these studies were presented at the 2024 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.