St Vincent's Institute

Bone Cell Biology and Disease - Senior Research Staff - Dr Nicole C Walsh

Dr Nicole C Walsh

Research Fellow
Bone Cell Biology and Disease Unit, St Vincent's Institute

Education and Professional Experience

1996        BSc (Biochemistry) University of Queensland
1997        BSc Postgraduate Honours (Biochemistry), University of Queensland
2003        PhD (Biochemistry-Molecular Biology), University of Queensland
2003-06   Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Rheumatology, Beth Israel Deaconess
               Medical Center, Harvard Institutes of Medicine, Boston, USA
2006-07 Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Rheumatology,
               University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, USA

Achievements

2003        Christopher & Margie Nordin Young Investigator Award, International Conference
              for Metabolic Bone Disease and ANZBMS
2005    Arthritis National Research Foundation (USA) Postdoctoral Fellowship
2006    The Sontag Foundation Fellow Award for the Arthritis National Research
                Foundation (USA) (Highest ranked grant proposal)
2006    Young Investigator Travel Award, 1^st International Conference on
                Osteoimmunology, Crete, Greece
2006      Abstract selected for Plenary Oral Presentation
                Annual Meeting of The American College of Rheumatology, Washington D.C.

Research Interests

Osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are the two most common forms of arthritis in Australia and represent significant burdens on healthcare expenditure. Although both OA and RA result in destruction of the cartilage within the affected joints, dysregulated bone remodelling, (resorption by osteoclasts, and bone formation by osteoblasts) within the affected joints results in different pathologic outcomes, with net focal bone loss in RA, and net focal bone gain in OA. Our research goal is to identify specific mechanisms that regulate changes in bone remodelling within RA- and OA-affected joints, which ultimately contribute to joint degeneration. This research will aid the development of therapeutics that may halt progression of bone changes in these degenerative joint diseases and augment the preservation of joint integrity, thus improving outcomes for RA and OA patients. To achieve our research goals, we use a combination of in vivo and in vitro approaches including: animal models of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, histology, bone histomorphometry, immunohistochemistry, in vitro cell culture, gene expression analyses, analyses for activation of cellular signalling pathways.

Selected Publications

1. Gravallese EM, Walsh NC. Rheumatoid Arthritis: Repair of erosion in RA-shifting the balance to formation. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2011. 7(11):626-8

2. Sims NA, Walsh NC. GP130 cytokines and bone remodelling in health and disease. BMB Rep. 2010. 43(8):513-23

3. Le Goff B., Romas E., Walsh NC. IL-6 is a critical cytokine for inflammatory bone loss in rheumatoid arthritis. Int. J. Clin. Rheumatol. 2010, 5(6): 609-612

4. Walsh N.C., and Gravallese, E.M. Bone remodelling in rheumatic diseases: a question of balance. Immunol. Rev. 2010. 233(1):301-312

5. Walsh, N.C., Reinwald, S., Manning, C.A., Condon, K.W., Iwata, K., Burr, D.B., Gravallese, E.M. Osteoblast function is compromised at sites of focal bone erosion in Rheumatoid Arthritis. J. Bone Miner. Res. 2009; 24(9):1572-85

6. Ijiri, K., Zerbini, L.F., Peng, H., Otu, H., Tsuchimochi, K., Otero, M., Walsh, N., Bierbaum, B.E., Mattingly, D., van Flandern, G., Komiua, S., Aigner, T., Libermann, T.A., Goldring, M.B. A Role for GADD45Beta as a Survival Factor in Articular Chondrocytes in Normal and Osteoarthritic Cartilage. Arthritis Rheum. 2008; 58(7):2075-2087

7. Pettit, A.R., Walsh, N.C., Manning, C., Goldring, S.R., Gravallese, E.M., RANKL protein expressed at the pannus-bone interface at sites of erosion in rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology. 2006; 45(9):1068-76

8. Walsh, N.C., Crotti, T.N., Goldring, S.R., Gravallese, E.M. Rheumatic Diseases: the effects of inflammation on bone. Immunol. Rev. 2005; 208:228-51

9. Crotti, T.N., Flannery, M., Walsh, N.C., Fleming, J.D., Goldring S.R. and McHugh, K.P. NFATc1 regulation of the human beta-3 integrin promoter in osteoclast differentiation. Gene.2006; 372:92-102

10. Walsh, N.C., Cahill, M., Carninci, P., Kawai, J., Okazaki, Y., Hayashizaki, Y., Hume D.A., and Cassady, A.I. Multiple tissue-specific promoters control expression of murine Tartrate-Resistant Acid Phosphatase. Gene 2003;307:111-23