McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory

Welcome to the Schipani Laboratory

The Schipani laboratory focuses on skeletal development, leveraging insights from developmental biology to better understand skeletal diseases and identify potential new treatments.

Early in her career, Dr. Schipani cloned the human PTH/PTHrP receptor and its gene, uncovering that gain-of-function mutations in this receptor are responsible for Jansen Metaphyseal Chondrodysplasia—a severe form of short-limbed dwarfism associated with hypercalcemia. Using mouse models carrying these mutations, she contributed to defining the PTH/PTHrP receptor's critical role in skeletal biology.

Subsequently, she pioneered the concept that oxygen gradients regulate tissue morphogenesis during skeletal development. Beyond serving as a key metabolic substrate in numerous enzymatic reactions such as mitochondrial respiration, oxygen also functions as a regulatory signal. The Schipani laboratory investigates how hypoxia, hypoxia-driven pathways, and the hypoxia-dependent reprogramming of metabolism influence skeletal development, aiming to uncover novel mechanisms of cellular adaptation to low oxygen levels and identify therapeutic targets for cartilage and bone diseases. To achieve these goals, the Schipani laboratory employs genetically modified mouse models and a wide array of in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro approaches to analyze phenotypes and elucidate the underlying biology.

 

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News

Schipani Lab Awarded NIH R01 grant
June 03, 2025
The Schipani Lab was awarded a R01 grant from the NIH to study mitochondrial respiration and growth plate biology!

Congrats to Giulia, The Queen of ASBMR!
July 16, 2024
Giulia Lanzolla is quite popular at ASBMR 2024! Her abstract titled "Genetic Or Pharmacological Inhibition Of Hypoxia Inducible Factor 2 (HIF2) Boosts The Osteoblast Population And Augments Bone Mass" has been selected for a plenary poster AND an oral presentation at the “2024 ASBMR Pre-Meeting Symposium on Energy Metabolism in Skeletal Development and Disease” AND she was awarded the ASBMR 2024 Annual Meeting Young Investigator Travel Grant!!!!

Dr. Schipani interviewed in Science article
October 13, 2023
Dr. Schipani was interviewed by Science to comment on a recent Nature article about hemoglobin in chondrocytes. Check it out!

https://www.science.org/content/article/more-red-blood-cells-depend-hemoglobin-surprising-study-cartilage-reveals#:~:text=The%20authors%20%E2%80%9Cprovide%20solid%20and,t%20connected%20to%20the%20research

Giulia to present at ASBMR
September 20, 2023
Giulia Lanzolla will present her poster titled "Pharmacological inhibition of HIF2 prevents trabecular bone loss in ovariectomized mice" at the 2023 ASMBR conference.

Congratulations Elena!
September 01, 2023
Elena Sabini is now a Research Associate in the Schipani Lab!

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