Researcher(s)
- Aarushi Patel, Biological Sciences, University of Delaware
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Anja Nohe, Biological Sciences, University of Delaware
Abstract
Aging significantly impacts bone health, contributing to a higher risk of osteoporosis or bone fragility. Osteoporosis occurs when osteoclast activity becomes excessive or unregulated, leading to increased bone breakdown that outpaces the bone formation by osteoblasts. Aging plays a critical role, as it leads to cellular changes that cause this imbalance to occur. This study compares the proteomic data of 6-month-old and 15-month-old mice to determine key proteins that play a regulatory role associated with aging in bone tissue. This process began with the filtering of the original mass list for relevance to then comparing up- and down-regulated protein lists to known and peer-reviewed databases to search for multifunctional and highly-connected proteins. Proteomic analysis identified a subset of differentially expressed proteins, from which three key genes were prioritized based on their interconnectedness within a protein network and multifunctional roles in aging-related pathways.