Tamara Alliston, PhD
Dr. Tamara Alliston is a Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and is co-Director of the Skeletal Biology Core of the Center of Musculoskeletal Biology and Medicine. Her research focuses on the mechanobiologic pathways controlling stem cell and skeletal cell differentiation in bone and cartilage, seeking to understand how these pathways maintain the mechanical integrity of the healthy skeleton, and how this is disrupted in skeletal diseases like arthritis and osteoporosis. In particular, she studies the mechanobiology of TGFß in the skeleton. She combines molecular, cellular, physiologic, bioengineering, and materials science approaches to advance therapies that can prevent skeletal disease and improve the speed and success of skeletal tissue regeneration. She completed her undergraduate degree in Biology at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and earned her doctoral degree in Cell Biology from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Interests: Skeletal cell differentiation, mechanobiology, TGF–beta, osteocytes, bone quality, bone, cartilage, osteoarthritis.