Martha’s work focuses on how bone strength is controlled by vesicular transport in osteoblasts (bone-forming cells) and osteocytes (bone’s internal cellular network). The talk will highlight her recently submitted work on how EphrinB2 deletion in osteoblasts and osteocytes limits lysosome content and how the absence of this signalling pathway modifies mineral and collagen levels in bone’s extracellular matrix. Emerging from this, she will also outline ongoing work to investigate how lysosomal enzymes in osteoblast-lineage cells control mineralisation in vitro and in vivo.

About the speaker: Dr Martha Blank completed her Bachelor in Bio- and Environmental Sciences and her Masters in Natural Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences, Austria. Her interest in bone research began in her Masters internship at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Osteology while studying initiation of mineralisation through matrix vesicles. Martha joined the Bone Cell Biology and Disease Unit at SVI as a PhD student with Prof Natalie Sims and E/Prof Jack Martin, and has continued in the same group as a postdoctoral researcher. Martha has received travel awards from the European Calcified Tissue Society and the Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society, and has received two SVI Rising Star Awards to support her current work

Join us: Tuesday 10 November, 12:00pm, ACMD Auditorium, Level 1, 27 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy (enter via Nicholson Street)