Thomas Clemens is the Lewis Cass Spencer professor of orthopaedic surgery and the vice chair for research in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Clemens received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of London and completed postdoctoral training as a research fellow in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Clemens was an associate professor in medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he founded a master’s program in biomedical sciences. Subsequently, he was a professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati, where he directed the Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine graduate program.

In 2004, Dr. Clemens became director of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he established a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-funded Med into Grad doctoral program.

Dr. Clemens’ research is focused on identification of the cellular and molecular mechanisms, which control bone osteoblast activity. He has authored more than 150 original publications, and has published a number of book chapters. He has served as a council member of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and was the program co-chair for the 2002 national meeting. He is the immediate past editor-in-chief of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

Naomi Dirckx, Ph.D., completed her Ph.D. at KU Leuven in Belgium where she investigated the role of the skeleton in global glucose homeostasis by focusing on hypoxia signaling in the osteoblast.

Currently, she is a 3^rd year postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Thomas Clemens, Department of Orthopaedic surgery. Her current research aims to discover the role of citrate in bone strength and quality and to unravel the metabolic pathways by which osteoblasts generate citrate and incorporate it in the minerals. A better understanding of how this critical metabolic substrate impacts bone mineralization is immediately relevant to developing better strategies for improving bone quality in metabolic diseases such as osteoporosis and diabetes. Naomi is postdoc representative of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and board member of the Johns Hopkins Postdoctoral Association (JHPDA).

Dr. Zhu Li received his M.D. degree at Dalian Medical University in China in 1989.

Before he joined Thomas Clemens’ lab at Johns Hopkins University in 2010, Dr. Li worked at other institutions in North America including The University of Chicago, The University of Western Ontario in Canada and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

In addition to working on his research projects, Dr. Li is a lab manager — in that role he helps order lab supplies, monitor expenses and budgets, manage the day-to-day running of the lab, and assure laboratory compliance with regulatory requirements and Johns Hopkins University standards, policies and procedures.

“My work concerns the role of sensory nerves in skeletal repair. In order to determine the requirement of NGF-dependent TrkA sensory nerves in bone repair, we use a well-characterized mouse model of nondisplaced, stress fracture by damaging forelimb compression to determine the cellular source(s) of NGF and its spatial and temporal relationship to TrkA sensory re-innervation of bone using Thy1-YFP and NGF-eGFP reporter mice and TrkA genetic models.” 

Originally from Canada, Dr. Robert Tower earned his Ph.D. in the department of Radiology and Neuroradiology at the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel in Northern Germany where he used the favorable bone targeting properties of bisphosphonates to develop new in vivo imaging approaches and targeted anti-tumor therapeutics.

Prior to joining the Clemens lab in June, 2019, Dr. Tower worked at KU Leuven in Belgium, as well as the University of Pennsylvania to understand the role of the vasculature in bone development, homeostasis and repair. Currently, Dr. Tower works on the role of sensory innervation in the bone. This project makes use of in vitro microfluidics, culturing bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) and primary neurons isolated from dorsal root ganglia, Thy1-YFP and NGF-GFP reporter mice, and a transgenic model of TrkA sensory nerve disruption. Using wholemount sections and confocal imaging, as well as single-cell sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, this project aims to unravel the role of sensory innervation in the bone during development and homeostasis, as well as the neural-derived factors responsible for these effects.

Qian Zhang received her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Institute for Nutritional Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"Patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of bone fractures. Recent studies have shown that bone cells produce endocrine factors that can regulate both bone remodeling and energy metabolism. In my study, I am using knockout mice to identify the role of these factors in regulating bone and energy metabolism. My studies should help to clarify the communication of bone and other metabolic tissues."

Education: M.D., New York Medical College, 2012 B.S., Northeastern University, 2007.
Fellowship: Pediatric Endocrinology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 2018
Research and Clinical Interests: Environmental microbiology, circadian rhythms, bioenergetics of the osteoblast

Education: Ph.D., Shanghai Brain Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Research and Clinical Interests: His research focuses on the characterization of the mechanism by which the peripheral nervous system regulates bone development and repair.

Education: Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, 2013. B.S.E., Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2008.
Fellowship: Orthopaedic Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, 2016
University Appointment: Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, 2016
Research and Clinical Interests: Sensory nerves in bone, fracture repair, and skeletal mechanobiology

Education: Ph.D., The University of Alabama, 2008. B.S., Pennsylvania State University, 2001.
University Appointment: Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, 2009
Research and Clinical Interests: Dr. DiGirolamo’s research interests include musculoskeletal biology — in particular, studying the pathways that enable the communication between bone and skeletal muscle that is necessary for them to coordinate their development and mass. Dr. DiGirolamo's prior research interests included the roles of GH and IGF-1 signaling in skeletal development, breast-cancer bone metastasis and cancer angiogenesis.
He is affiliated with the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and the Endocrine Society, and has served as the administrative editor of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

Education: Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, 2007. B.S., Loyola University Maryland, 2002.
Fellowship: The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2007
University Appointment: Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, 2017
Research and Clinical Interests: Sensory nerves in bone, fracture repair and skeletal mechanobiology