250105a FIRST SERIES OF STUDENT RESEARCH GROUP MEETINGS: GROUP #2 8.00-8.55pm 05/01/2024.

Agenda of Meeting with PNU Students prepared by  Prof Omar Hasan Kasule MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard). 

Time	Sunday Jan 5, 2025	Monday Dec 6, 2025	Tuesday Dec 7, 2025	Wednesday Dec 8, 2025	Thursday Dec 9, 2025
7.00pm –  7.55pm	Group 1	Group 4	Group 7	Group 10	Group 13
8.00pm –  8.55pm	Group 2	Group 5	Group 8	Group 11
9.00pm –  9.55pm	Group 3	Group 6	Group 9	Group 12

  

AGENDA

• Know one another: self-introductions – 5 minutes
• The way forward – 5 minutes
• Presentation of the proposed research program -5 minutes
• Q&A and open discussion – 30 minutes

 

WAY FORWARD

• Vision: publish at least 2 papers; the first a review within 6 months and the second based on laboratory or data analysis within 1-3 years.
• First step: We shall start by brainstorming about the assigned topic, then the group will review the literature to narrow down the topic and develop keywords
• Second step: Systematic literature review within the group and a 1-hour presentation to Prof Omar once a week or once every two weeks.
• Third step: familiarization with available laboratory equipment and procedures to prepare one or more research proposals from each group. Faculty will be appointed as supervisors or principal investigators. Students will be co-authors.
• Some of the research will be new and innovative. Some of it will be attempts at validating research carried out outside the Kingdom.

A RESEARCH PROGRAM ON OSTEOCYTE SENESCENCE-1 Background

• Skeletal aging: Saudi Arabia has one of the highest proportions of young people in its population and will see an increasing proportion of musculoskeletal disorders in the coming decades due to aging.
• We need to understand skeletal aging to take preventive measures to mitigate the adverse events of the aging process: adipogenesis instead of osteogenesis, apoptosis and decrease of osteocytes[i], senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP)[ii]  and others.
• Osteocytes have been chosen for study because they are the main bone cell and have effects on other body tissues in the context of aging[iii].

 

A RESEARCH PROGRAM ON OSTEOCYTE SENESCENSE-2 introduction:

• This is a proposal of a research program that will comprise 25 separate projects/publications each under a team of investigators to investigate hypotheses on the aging of osteocytes from the stem cell through senescence stages.
• The primary focus is discovering and solving existing knowledge gaps with a secondary focus on Saudi validation of international findings.

 

A RESEARCH PROGRAM ON OSTEOCYTE SENESCENSE-3 the specific main research themes

(a)   Manifestations and factors/correlates of osteocyte aging.

(b)   Mechanisms of osteocyte aging. 

(c)   Genetic basis of bone osteocyte aging – the focus of the research. 

(d)   Interventions that delay the aging process.

 

A RESEARCH PROGRAM ON OSTEOCYTE SENESCENSE-4 research implementation:

• Sub themes will be identified, and a research team will be set up for each consisting of 3-4 medical students headed by a HSRC researcher and a faculty supervisor and assisted by relevant professionals. T
• the medical students will be guided by a consultant to do deep literature review identifying knowledge gaps.
• Then specific hypotheses and objectives will be developed.
• More literature review will be undertaken to identify relevant laboratory methodologies that are feasible at the HSRC.
• after that a full research proposal will be finalized for approval. The students will be recognized as co-researchers and co-authors.

 

A RESEARCH PROGRAM ON OSTEOCYTE SENESCENSE-5 research procedures

The research procedures will be on the osteocyte and will be confined to the cellular, molecular, and DNA levels and will not extend to pathological/physiological conditions.
Most of the research will be on animal bone marrow models however some will be on human bone marrow cells obtained from the tissue bank or cell lines purchased from commercial sources.
Laboratory analyses shall be based on equipment and skills already available at HSRC or specific kits purchased for the purpose.

The main challenges of the research will be isolation / characterization of various osteocytes followed by DNA/RNA sequencing.

 

INITIAL KEY WORDS:

bone marrow stem cells (mesenchyme vs hematopoietic),	bone remodeling and resorption
bone cells (osteocytes, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts)	bone aging-related genes and signaling pathways: Wnt, Bmp/TGF, and Jak-STAT
bone-related osteocyte transcriptomes by RNA-Seq	Single-Cell RNA-Sequencing[iv]
Single-Cell Transcriptomics[v]	senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP),
manifestations of cell aging (­apoptosis, ¯ quantity	manifestations of cell aging (impaired mechanical sensing, exosome secretion).

REFERENCES: 

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[i] Lingli Zhang, Qiao Guan, Zhikun Wang , Jie Feng, Jun Zou , Bo Gao. Consequences of Aging on Bone. Aging Dis. 2023 Nov 20.

[ii] Ching-Lien Fang, Bin Liu , Mei Wan. "Bone-SASP" in Skeletal Aging. Calcif Tissue Int. 2023 Jul;113(1):68-82.

[iii] Lilian I Plotkin , Natasha Sanz , Lucas R Brun. Messages from the Mineral: How Bone Cells Communicate with Other Tissues. . Calcif Tissue Int 2023 Jul;113(1):39-47.

[iv] Sixun Wu , Shinsuke Ohba , Yuki Matsushita . Single-Cell RNA-Sequencing Reveals the Skeletal Cellular Dynamics in Bone Repair and Osteoporosis. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jun 6;24(12):9814

[v] Luke J Dillard , Will T Rosenow, Gina M Calabrese , Larry D Mesner, Basel M Al-Barghouthi , Abdullah Abood , Emily A Farber, Suna Onengut-Gumuscu , Steven M Tommasini, Mark A Horowitz, Clifford J Rosen , Lutian Yao , Ling Qin, Charles R Farber. Single-Cell Transcriptomics of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells in Diversity Outbred Mice: A Model for Population-Level scRNA-Seq Studies. J Bone Miner Res. 2023 Sep;38(9):1350-1363.