Dr. Verena Fischer

Dr. Verena Fischer is a Postdoctoral researcher working at the Institute of Orthopedic Research and Biomechanics (Director: Prof. Anita Ignatius). Her research mainly focuses on the pathomechanisms of osteoporosis and disturbed fracture healing.

Osteoporosis, which is characterized by bone weakness and increased fracture risk, is the most common skeletal disease worldwide. Notably, bone fracture healing is disturbed in osteoporotic patients, thus further increasing the morbidity and mortality of these patients. Thus, novel therapeutic strategies are needed to prevent osteoporosis development and to improve osteoporotic fracture healing. To that end, it is important to understand the underlying molecular and cellular pathomechanisms behind. Verenas previous work showed that the immune response towards fracture is disturbed under osteoporotic conditions and that mast cells, which are sensor and effector cells of the innate immune system, might play an important role in this process. Therefore, she is now working on investigating the underlying molecular mechanisms of mast cell actions in vitro and in vivo, in order to find a novel target to improve bone regeneration in the clinics.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play also an important role in bone fracture healing, as they display strong anti-inflammatory and pro-regenerative properties, and are characterized by their multi-lineage differentiation capacity. Verena also investigates how different cell licensing (priming) approaches might influence MSC functions and their therapeutic properties, for example, in fracture healing. This research has a great translational importance, especially for patients with large bone defects that display impaired healing or even develop non-unions.