Lynda Bonewald is a professor of anatomy, cell biology, physiology, and orthopaedic surgery and the founding director of the Indiana Center for Musculoskeletal Health (ICMH) at the

Indiana University School of Medicine The Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) is a major multi-campus medical school in the state of Indiana. There are nine campuses throughout the state; the principal research and medical center is located on the Indiana University–Purdu ...

. She studies

bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...

and the

musculoskeletal system The human musculoskeletal system (also known as the human locomotor system, and previously the activity system) is an organ system that gives humans the ability to move using their muscular and skeletal systems. The musculoskeletal system provid ...

. She has served as president of the

American Society for Bone and Mineral Research The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) is a professional, scientific and medical society established in 1977 to promote excellence in bone and mineral research and to facilitate the translation of that research into clinical pr ...

(ASBMR, 2012-2013) and the

Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities The Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) is dedicated to advancing core and research biotechnology laboratories through research, communication, and education. ABRF members include over 2000 scientists representing 340 different ...

(1999-2000).

Early life and education

Bonewald graduated from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and earned a Ph.D. in Immunology/Microbiology from the

Medical University of South Carolina The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is a public medical school in South Carolina. It opened in 1824 in Charleston as a small private college aimed at training physicians and has since established hospitals and medical facilities acr ...

in 1984.

Career

Bonewald was a post-doctoral fellow at the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

where she worked with Makio Ogawa on growth factors for

hematopoietic stem cells Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the stem cells that give rise to other blood cells. This process is called haematopoiesis. In vertebrates, the very first definitive HSCs arise from the ventral endothelial wall of the embryonic aorta within t ...

. Bonewald joined the

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) is a public academic health science center in San Antonio, Texas. It is part of the University of Texas System. UT Health San Antonio is the largest health scie ...

in 1986 as an assistant professor, working with Gregory Robert Mundy. In 2001, she joined the

University of Missouri–Kansas City The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) is a public research university in Kansas City, Missouri. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and one of only two member universities with a medical school. As of 2020, the university ...

(UMKC), becoming the Lefkowitz Professor of Oral Biology and the director of the Bone Biology Research Program at UMKC's School of Dentistry. In 2009, she and her collaborators received funding from the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

through a

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is one of the institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ...

‘Grand Opportunity’ grant. In 2009 Bonewald also became director of the UMKC Center of Excellence in the Study of Dental and Musculoskeletal Tissues and took on the newly-created position of Interim Vice Chancellor for Research at UMKC. In 2015, as Vice Chancellor for Translational and Clinical Research at UMKC, Bonewald became the founding director of the Kansas City Consortium on Musculoskeletal Diseases (KCMD). Leadership of the consortium rotated between its partners, UMKC, the

University of Kansas Medical Center The University of Kansas Medical Center, commonly referred to as KU Med or KUMC, is a medical campus for the University of Kansas. KU Med houses the university's schools of medicine, nursing, and health professions, with the primary health science ...

and the

Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences Kansas City University (KCU) is a private medical school with its main campus in Kansas City, Missouri and an additional campus in Joplin, Missouri. Founded in 1916, KCU is one of the original osteopathic medical schools in the United States. It ...

. As of 2016, Bonewald was appointed as the founding director of the Indiana Center for Musculoskeletal Health (ICMH) at the

. Bonewald served as president of the

(ASBMR) for 2012-2013. She was president of the

for 1999-2000. She has served on the council of the

at the NIH. She is a member of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR), and the

International Association for Dental Research The International Association for Dental Research (IADR) is a professional association, founded in 1920 by William Gies, that focuses on research in the field of dentistry. The aim of this association by constitution is to promote research in all f ...

(IADR). She has been chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) is a branch of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The institute aims to improve the oral, dental, and craniofacial health through research and the distribution of important he ...

(NIDCR).

Research

Bonewald is a leading bone researcher working to better understand the musculoskeletal system, the effects of aging, and the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases such as

osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to bone fragility, and consequent increase in fracture risk. It is the most common reason for a broken bone ...

and

sarcopenia Sarcopenia is a type of muscle loss (muscle atrophy) that occurs with aging and/or immobility. It is characterized by the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass, quality, and strength. The rate of muscle loss is dependent on exercise level, c ...

. Despite being told that she would waste her time, she focused on a largely ignored topic that she found interesting. Bonewald went on to make important discoveries relating to

astrocytes Astrocytes (from Ancient Greek , , "star" + , , "cavity", "cell"), also known collectively as astroglia, are characteristic star-shaped glial cells in the brain and spinal cord. They perform many functions, including biochemical control of endo ...

and

osteocytes An osteocyte, an oblate shaped type of bone cell with dendritic processes, is the most commonly found cell in mature bone. It can live as long as the organism itself. The adult human body has about 42 billion of them. Osteocytes do not divide and ...

. Astrocytes are cells in the brain and spinal cord. Osteocytes are cells, embedded in the mineralized matrix of bone structure, which are important in muscle-bone interactions and communications between them. Bonewald discovered that osteocytes and muscle cells send signals to each other that influence growth and deterioration of both bone and muscle. Bonewald now studies endocrine crosstalk between bone and muscle and how this relates to aging. Her work has enabled researchers to better understand age-related bone and muscle loss and suggests possible novel treatments. Bonewald has contributed to the advancement of the field with more than 200 publications, 42 reviews, and four commentaries. She has developed tools which are used globally by researches to study osteocyte biology and function. She holds nine patents.

Awards

* 1985-1986, Damon Runyon Fellow,

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (Damon Runyon) is an American not-for-profit cancer research organization focused on "discovering the talent to discover the cure". The organization states that its goals are to: "identify the best an ...

* 2006, Distinguished Scientist Award in Mineralized Tissue from the

(IADR) and the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) * 2006, W.S.S. Jee Remodeling in Bone (RIB) Award from the Sun Valley Workshop * 2015, William F. Neuman Award, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) * 2019, Fellow, Biological Sciences,

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

(AAAS) * 2020, Bicentennial Medal, Indiana University * 2020, Distinguished Professor, Indiana University * 2021, Fellow, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonewald, Lynda Faye Living people Medical University of South Carolina alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni University of Missouri–Kansas City faculty Indiana University School of Medicine faculty American Association for the Advancement of Science Year of birth missing (living people)