Anything other than bone idle

Aline Bozec is the speaker of the new Collaborative Research Center/Transregio 369, “DIONE – Degeneration of Bone due to Inflammation”. The CRC investigates why and how inflammatory diseases affect bones.

What are you currently researching?

I am currently researching the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the biology of bones and rheumatoid arthritis. I am particularly interested in which role immune cells and their interactions with bone cells play in autoimmune diseases. Our aim is to gain an understanding of the underlying processes that lead to bone destruction in diseases such as these.

 Why are you interested in this topic?

Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis significantly reduce patients’ quality of life. If we understand the complicated mechanisms behind the interactions between bones and the immune system, we will be able to develop treatments that prevent the loss of bone mass and improve patient care.

What is the aim pursued by CRC Dione?

The CRC combines expertise from immunology, bone biology and clinical research. We hope to gain a comprehensive understanding of the molecular network at various levels: ranging from the systemic level to the micro-environment of the bone to cellular factors regulating the loss of bone mass. This tiered approach should contribute to the development of innovative treatment methods and improve the understanding of complex molecular mechanisms underlying inflammatory loss of bone mass.

completed her doctoral degree in biochemistry at Université Claude Bernard Lyon in 2004. She has been employed at the Department of Medicine 3 – Rheumatology and Immunology in Erlangen since 2012, initially as an assistant professor (Emmy Noether scholarship) for osteoimmunology, and since 2019 as a full professor for experimental immunotherapy. Her working group focuses in particular on the interaction between metabolism, bone homeostasis and inflammation. The research focus of the Bozec lab is to gain an understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that lead to changes in bone marrow in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and metastatic cancer.

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Author: Simone Harland

This article is part of the FAU magazine

Innovation, diversity and passion: Those are the three guiding principles of our FAU, as stated in our mission statement. At FAU, we live these guiding principles every day in all that we do – in research, in teaching and when it comes to sharing the knowledge created at our university with society.

This, the second issue of our FAU magazine, underlines all of the above: It shows researchers who tirelessly keep pushing the boundaries of what has been believed to be possible. It introduces students who work together to achieve outstanding results for their FAU, talks about teaching staff who pass on their knowledge with infectious enthusiasm and creativity. And it reports back on members of staff with foresight and a talent for getting to the crux of the matter who are dedicated to improving the (research) infrastructure at FAU as well as people in key positions who are there for their university and are committed to its research location.