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:
[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.