Joel Boerckel
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jboerckel.bsky.social
Joel Boerckel
@jboerckel.bsky.social
Assc Prof @pennmedicine.bsky.social.
Co-Director, McKay Orthopaedic Research Labs.

Mechanobiology of development & regeneration.
Prov. 25:2. 🦛

Philadelphia, PA
Out latest preprint, from @cpane94.bsky.social in the lab, is out today!

Maternal exercise rescues fetal akinesia-impaired joint and bone development.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

So excited for this one - a wonderful collab with Niamh Nowlan, supported by the US-Ireland Partnership Programme ❤️
June 19, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Proud to see @cpane94.bsky.social giving an @asbmr.bsky.social Member Spotlight Webinar next week (Thursday the 12th)!

He'll be talking about his latest work: "Maternal exercise rescues fetal akinesia-impaired joint and bone development"

Register here: d5jjrf04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/5I+113/d...
June 4, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Down with acronyms
May 31, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Our paper, led by Chris Panebianco (@cpane94.bsky.social) is out today at Developmental Dynamics!

"Dynamics of postnatal bone development and epiphyseal synostosis in the caprine autopod."
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
May 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Nothing calms like going to the library and bringing home a good poet.
May 6, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Facilities, overhead.
May 3, 2025 at 5:54 PM
In a vascularized bone-on-a-chip system, we found that mechanical loading modulated angiogenesis in a manner dependent on load timing and CYR61 treatment.

These data extend our prior findings on mechanical regulation of CYR61 expression during angiogenesis: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
April 24, 2025 at 3:15 AM
While CYR61 delivery in this system did not significantly affect bone or cartilage formation, it robustly stimulated angiogenesis.
April 24, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Here, @amilangscience.bsky.social studied the effects of mechanical loading on bone fracture repair.

Identifying the YAP/TAZ target gene, CYR61 as a potential therapeutic fracture repair, she delivered rCYR61 to bone fractures in hematoma-mimetic hydrogels.
April 24, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Deleting every “superfluous that” makes your writing less clear.
April 12, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Taught my kids how to play Euchre tonight.

This is a new level of parenting joy I hadn’t anticipated when they were small.
February 24, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Sean and I rode our bikes down to the Eagles parade today.

Best part was the Kelly Dr. road closure.
February 14, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Returning home rejuvenated by time w so many dear friends at #ORS2025

Also so proud and thankful for my group.

Special congrats to @cpane94.bsky.social on winning the NIRA, @amilangscience.bsky.social on @isfrfractures.bsky.social🥇Podium Award and @eseidlscience.bsky.social on Tendon 3MT Award 🙌
February 12, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Excited for #ORS2025 and super proud of this group who will be presenting their work!

🙌🏻 @madhura0327.bsky.social @gkotsaris90.bsky.social @eseidlscience.bsky.social @amilangscience.bsky.social @cpane94.bsky.social

ht @cpane94.bsky.social for the slide!
February 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
90 minutes of continuum mechanics expressed in chalk length change.

Find the deformation gradient.
February 6, 2025 at 3:13 PM
If I ever had to pick a walk-on song, it would be The Genetic Method.

RIP Garth Hudson ❤️
January 28, 2025 at 3:00 AM
I like to think they have Snidely Whiplash vibes
January 26, 2025 at 6:20 PM
TFW you receive something you can tell wasn’t GPT-generated
January 22, 2025 at 8:50 PM
So wonderful to have @joyywu.bsky.social as PCMD Visting Professor! Thanks for the great talk, Joy!
January 15, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Remarkably, making the fracture site hypoxic promoted angiogenesis and increased bone formation.
January 15, 2025 at 4:23 AM
Annemarie then did a cool experiment: she treated fractures with a CD71-blocking antibody, which prevents iron import.

CD71 blockade arrested heme synthesis and made the fracture site hypoxic!
January 15, 2025 at 4:23 AM
These erythroid progenitor cells express CD71, or Transferrin receptor 1.

Erythroid cells are super iron-hungry, as they begin to make hemoglobin, which uses iron to bind oxygen. Transferrin receptor is the primary iron transporter in these cells.
January 15, 2025 at 4:22 AM
We found that fracture activated local erythroid progenitor cells, without a change in serum EPO!
January 15, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Now, when a bone is fractured, it breaks the bone and ruptures the vessels, but it also breaks the bone marrow. Bone marrow is special because it is the site of erythropoiesis: the production of new red blood cells from stem cells.
January 15, 2025 at 4:21 AM
What could cause this high oxygen? Fracture rapidly causes hematoma formation, which arrests bleeding and cuts off the supply of new erythrocytes.

So, we took a single cell approach to identify the cell populations at the fracture site, compared to contralateral bone marrow.
January 15, 2025 at 4:21 AM