Dr. Rendina-Ruedy’s unique training and research experience is deeply rooted in the basic science of bone biology with an emphasis in nutritional biochemistry. She received her Ph.D. from the College of Human Sciences with an emphasis in Nutritional Sciences in May 2014 from Oklahoma State University under the mentorship of Dr. Brenda Smith. While her M.S. focused on bioactive/ functional foods and bone health, her Ph.D. research was aimed at investigating the role of autophagy in bone metabolism as it relates to type 2 diabetes mellitus skeletal fragility. She then transitioned to a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at VUMC, in the Vanderbilt Center for Bone Biology (VCBB) in Dr. Daniel Perrien’s lab. During this time her project focused on how the histone deacetylase, sirtuin1 (Sirt1), was involved in mechano-transduction of bone. She then continued her postdoctoral training under Dr. Clifford Rosen’s mentorship at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute (MMCRI). While at MMCRI Dr. Rendina-Ruedy’s research interest returned to cellular bioenergetics and metabolic pathways within the skeletal niche. She started her independent lab in 2019 at VUMC in the Department of Medicine where Dr. Rendina-Ruedy’s research continues to focus on developing a comprehensive understanding of how metabolic pathways impact bone health. Within this scope, the Rendina-Ruedy lab’s vision is to identify novel biological mechanisms to develop new treatments that can improve the quality of life for patients with compromised bone health. She is committed to training the next generation of scientists in both traditional and non-traditional settings. Dr. Rendina-Ruedy enjoys mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, as well as working with her scientific staff. Given her expertise, productivity, and commitment to the broader scientific community, she serves as a member of the Skeletal Biology Development and Disease Study Section (SBDD) study section at the NIH.
Research Interests:
The Rendina-Ruedy Lab is focused on developing a comprehensive understanding of how metabolic pathways impact bone health. Bone is an incredibly dynamic tissue that undergoes continuous remodeling involving bone resorbing osteoclasts, bone forming osteoblasts, and mechano-sensing osteocytes. Due to the high energetic demands of this process, targeting metabolic pathways in bone cells is an incredibly provocative tool that can be applied to combat various conditions which lead to increased fracture incidence and/ or complications during fracture repair (i.e., post-menopausal osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and age-related osteoporosis). As such, the Rendina-Ruedy lab has ongoing projects aimed at understanding how bone cells, and cells within the bone marrow niche, store, mobilize, and utilize various metabolic substrates. In addition to understanding how these metabolic pathways impact bone health in a cell-autonomous manner, our lab is particularly interested in how alterations in bone cell bioenergetics modulate whole-body metabolism. In line with this research focus, the lab’s broad goal is to apply their cutting-edge biomedical research to improve the quality of life for patients with musculoskeletal diseases, conditions, and/ or trauma. Dr. Rendina-Ruedy has secured independent funding through various agencies including the USDA and to support her research program
Staff
John ‘J’ Shupe, BS; Lab Manager
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