SArah M Romeim Height Increase Ally

Here's a patent that may be useful for understanding the growth plate, it's formation, and how to generation formation of new growth plates:

LIVE GROWTH PLATE CARTILAGE IMAGING TO STUDY PROLIFERATIVE COLUMN FORMATION

"The growth of long bones and the endochondral cranial base is generated by spatial and temporal control of chondrocyte maturation in the growth plate cartilage. This maturation process gives rise to domains with distinct cell morphologies and gene expression profiles. Genetic studies provide evidence that proper domain architecture is crucial to growth plate function, and this architecture is susceptible to damage via injury or disease. One important event in chondrocyte maturation is the reorganization of round precursor cells into discoid proliferative chondrocytes that form columns via clonal expansion. Previous studies support a model in which column formation by proliferative chondrocytes occurs through sequential planar division and cell intercalation in a manner similar to convergent extension{ the process by which the tissue of an embryo is restructured to converge (narrow) along one axis and extend (elongate) along a perpendicular axis by cellular movement.}. One important caveat is that these studies, and the proposed models of cell behavior in the growth plate, are based on the analysis of static images from sections of fixed tissue. The absence of dynamic information reduces confidence in the models and places limits on the mechanistic interpretation of genetic data. This proposal utilizes an in vitro live imaging system recently developed in the laboratory to elucidate the mechanisms that regulate column formation in proliferative chondrocytes. Specifically, the aims are designed to test the hypothesis that column formation occurs by cell intercalation{A type of secondary cell in which layered electrodes, usually made of metal oxides or graphite, store positive ions between the crystal layers of an electrode.} in a convergent extension process that is driven by interactions at the interface of daughter cells. This hypothesis will be tested using live imaging, together with genetic and chemical-genetic methods, to detect the presence of lamellopodia in daughter cells, to determine if actin dynamics and integrin function are required for column formation, and to determine if premature separation of daughter cells prevents cell rearrangement in Piga mutant proliferative chondrocytes. Results of these studies will provide important new information for the generation of cartilage architecture by tissue engineering and will establish this innovative method as a crucial new tool for study of the mechanisms of growth control."

No results yet but things will be very interesting once there are results.

Here's a paper on cellular poplarity she wrote.  And another on Wnt signaling in cartilage.

A re-evaluation of two key reagents for in vivo studies of Wnt signaling.  Although this paper doesn't have any real insight except on experimental methods.