Genetic Determinants of Bone disease Section: Genetic and Experimental Medicine Dr Omar Albagha Reader in Genetics Contact details Email: omar.albagha@ed.ac.uk Research in a NutshellOsteoporosis is a common bone disease characterised by reduction in bone density leading to increased risk of fracture. The disease affects mostly women over the age of 60 years. Paget’s disease of bone is another common bone disease affecting up to 1% of people over the age of 55 years and it is characterised by focal areas of increased bone turnover leading to symptoms of bone pain, deformity, and increased risk of fracture. My research is aimed at defining the genetic factors that makes certain people at risk of developing osteoporosis and Paget’s disease of bone using state of the art genetic mapping techniques and to perform functional studies on the identified genetic factors to understand how they lead to the development of the disease. The findings of my studies will increase our understanding of disease mechanism and may define new molecular pathways that could be useful in designing new treatments and in case of Paget’s disease; the identified genetic markers could be useful clinically in predicting the disease severity. Research Programme People NameRole Dr Omar AlbaghaGroup LeaderSachin WaniResearch Assistant/PhD studentAriane WillemsPostdoctoral Scientist Collaborations Professor Stuart Ralston, University of Edinburgh Professor Donald Salter, University of Edinburgh The GEFOS consortium Partners and Funders European Research CouncilPaget’s AssociationMedical Research Council Scientific Themes Bone biology, GWAS, Gene identification, research models, osteoclastogenesis Technology Expertise Genome wide association studies, disease gene identification, animal models of bone disease This article was published on 2024-09-23