Gerard Karsenty MD, PhD

Gerard Karsenty M.D., Ph.D., is the Paul A. Marks M.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Genetics and Development at Columbia University Medical center, New York City. In the last 20 years, his laboratory has studied every aspect of skeletal biology ranging from development to physiology. His laboratory deciphered the molecular bases of osteoblast-specific gene expression, a work that culminated in his identification of Runx2 as the master gene of osteoblast differentiation. This was followed by the identification of an entire cascade of transcription factors regulating osteoblast differentiation and of Gm2 as the master gene of parathyroid gland development. In approaching bone physiology Karsenty proposed that there is a coordinated control endocrine in nature, of bone mass, energy metabolism and fertility.