Congratulations to Franziska Lademann, PhD – 2022 Recipient of the Friedrich Heuck Osteologie Award

Thyroid hormones are essential regulators of skeletal growth and bone metabolism. In her first paper „Lack of the thyroid hormone transporter Mct8 in osteoblast and osteoclast progenitors increases trabecular bone in male mice“ Franziska investigated the role of the thyroid hormone transporter MCT8 in bone cells using different transgenic mouse models and showed that MCT8 directly affects bone remodeling and bone mass.

With the study “The thyroid hormone transporter MCT10 is a novel regulator of trabecular bone mass and bone turnover in male mice”, published 2022 in Endocrinology, another important thyroid hormone transporter in bone, MCT10, was identified and described to have distinct effects on bone structure and fragility in a site- and age-dependent manner.

Franziska’s third original publication, published 2021 in JBMR ,„Disruption of BMP signaling prevents hyperthyroidism-induced bone loss in male mice”, showed that the bone morphogentic protein (BMP) signaling pathway, one of the most important osteogenic signaling pathways, is activated by thyroid hormones in osteoblasts and its pharmacological blockade prevented the development of osteoporosis in hyperthyroid mice.

Franziska is now expanding her research and will focus on the interaction of thyroid hormone receptors and the BMP signaling pathway in bone.

We are proud of having such motivated and aspiring scientists in our Bone Lab. Keep up the good work, Franzi!