The Centre for Bone and Periodontal Research

Former Bone Centre undergraduate Sen Chai shows off a micro-mechanical tester designed and prototyped by Mike Buschmann of École Polytechnique. After completing her engineering degree, Ms. Chai went on to do a master’s in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University, and is now a Business Technology Analyst with Deloitte Consulting.

The Centre for Bone and Periodontal Research (Bone Centre) was founded early in the decade thanks to the tireless work of a small group of Montreal-area scientists interested in skeletal health and disease. The team is comprised of clinicians, fundamental scientists, engineers, dentists, and other health professionals. Their interests encompass orthopaedics, biomaterials, regenerative medicine, biological and chemical engineering, functional genomics, and connective and calcified tissue research.

These researchers are drawn primarily from McGill University, Université de Montréal, and their major affiliated hospital-based research institutes: the McGill University Hospital Centre (MUHC) and Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM). Member-scientists also come from other educational bodies, including Université de Sherbrooke, Université Laval, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), and Montreal’s École polytechnique, as well as from other Montreal-area health care deliverers, including the Shriners Hospital for Children and the Jewish General Hospital. Many of the Bone Centre scientists are also active members of the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ)–sponsored Réseau de recherche en santé buccodentaire et osseuse (RSBO) and of the McGill Institute for Advanced Materials (MIAM).

The Bone Centre was established with funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and supported by operating grants from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Valorisation-Recherche Québec, FRSQ, and private donors as well as McGill University. It is located adjacent to the Jamson T. N. Wong Laboratories for Mineralized Tissue Research and platforms for research in genomics and proteomics in the McGill and Genome Québec Innovation Centre at 740 Dr. Penfield Avenue. In addition to offering services for mineralized tissue research, the Bone Centre acts as a hub for graduate and postgraduate training that includes a 10-week online course in skeletal health research.

The Bone Centre recently made headlines when the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study group, led by the Bone Centre director Dr. David Goltzman, released a study on the negative effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a family of antidepressants that includes paroxetine hydrochloride, on bone health. Other groundbreaking projects led by Bone Centre scientists include studies on the genetics of bone development and mineral metabolism, tissue engineering for cartilage and bone, and novel approaches to bone healing following orthopaedic trauma.

Pre-clinical models used to study skeletal development, regeneration, and repair include primarily rodents and rabbits. Equipment on-site includes a SkyScan 1072 micro-computed tomography unit; a Lunar PIXImus bone densitometer for small mammals; a Faxitron MX-20 for high-resolution radiographs; and the MACH-1 micro-mechanical unit for testing the strength of small pieces of bone and biomaterials.

For more information:

please visit the website at http://www.bone.mcgill.ca/ or contact Janet E. Henderson at
janet.henderson@mcgill.ca.