Led by veterinary surgical oncologists, Drs. Nicole Ehrhart and Ruth Rose, the Laboratory of Comparative Musculoskeletal Oncology and Traumatology investigates new approaches to improve bone healing for application to radiation therapy and bone cancer treatment. Current projects include the use of local or systemic administration of mesenchymal stem cells to stimulate healing of allogeneic bone grafts following bone cancer surgery and the role of extracellular vesicles and decellularized tissue matrices in bone, muscle and wound healing.
Services
- Support and Services
- Advanced preclinical animal models for devices,
- surgical implants, solid tumor models, orthopedic research
- Rodent, rabbit, dog, sheep, goat, pig
- Study design assistance
- Two board-certified veterinary surgical specialists and a dedicated support team
- Mesenchymal stem cell isolation and differentiation assays
- GLP compliant
- Equipment
- Scanco Viva80 In Vivo MicroCT
- Rodent and large animal anesthesia and surgical suite
- Xenogen IVIS 100 bioluminescence imaging system
- Osteomeasure histomorphometry imaging system and dedicated microscope/computer
About Dr. Ehrhart
Dr. Ehrhart is a professor of surgical oncology and director of the Laboratory of Comparative Musculoskeletal Oncology and Traumatology. She also holds the Ross M Wilkins MD Limb Preservation Foundation University Chair in Musculoskeletal Oncology and Biology. She has a strong translational research focus centered on orthopedic oncology; specifically, she is involved in research involving bone and muscle healing following large resection or loss of bone and the manner in which cancer therapies inhibit bone healing.
Contacts
Director, Laboratory of Comparative Musculoskeletal Oncology and Traumatology
Ross M Wilkins MD Limb Preservation Foundation University Chair in Musculoskeletal Oncology and Biology
Professor
DVM/PhD Candidate, 2022, 2024
Research: Novel therapeutics for bone and cartilage repair using translatable cell culture, rodent, and equine animal models. My goal is to collaborate with veterinarians, medical doctors, and basic scientists to develop a clinically relevant, translational approach to orthopaedic medicine.
DVM/PhD Candidate, 2026
Research: Role of extracellular vesicles in skeletal muscle physiology and the influence of exercise on extracellular vesicle production. The long-term goal of this research is to develop novel therapeutics for age-related musculoskeletal diseases.