Erin Hsu, PhD, serves as research associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and assistant director of the Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology (SQI). At the SQI, Hsu works on strategic initiatives and new programs designed to foster collaborations between SQI members and other faculty in the Northwestern community. Hsu also leads her own laboratory — the Laboratory for Regenerative Technologies in Orthopaedic Surgery — along with her husband, Wellington Hsu, MD, the Clifford C. Raisbeck, MD, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and an associate professor of Neurological Surgery
Q&A
What are your research interests?
My lab studies bone biology, with the major areas of focus being bone regeneration and bone toxicology. Our bone regenerative studies aim to replace current suboptimal clinical approaches for bone healing with safer and more effective alternatives, especially in the spine. Along with my clinician-scientist husband, who plays an active role in our laboratory’s research, I was invited to join the SQI as resident faculty in 2016. SQI has a primary mission to enable efficient cross-disciplinary collaboration to solve clinical challenges — as resident faculty, my laboratory is located in very close proximity to those of many of my collaborators. We work closely with these collaborators — such as Samuel Stupp, PhD, director of the SQI, professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, and Ramille Shah, PhD, assistant professor of Surgery in the Division of Organ Transplantation — to create improved solutions in the bone regeneration arena.
SQI has a primary mission to enable efficient cross-disciplinary collaboration to solve clinical challenges — as resident faculty, my laboratory is located in very close proximity to those of many of my collaborators. We work closely with these collaborators — such as Samuel Stupp, PhD, director of the SQI, professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, and Ramille Shah, PhD, assistant professor of Surgery in the Division of Organ Transplantation — to create improved solutions in the bone regeneration arena.
Our orthopaedic toxicology work aims to understand how environmental toxins adversely affect bone and inhibit bone healing, so that we can develop better approaches to prevent such effects. For instance, we study the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in cigarette smoke-mediated inhibition of bone healing, and we investigate the utility of phytochemical-based antagonists of that receptor to provide protective effects in that setting.
What is the ultimate goal of your research?
he goal of our research is to improve our understanding of how bone and bone progenitor (stem) cells respond to both endogenous and external stimuli. This knowledge allows us to manipulate the biological system, for instance by directing stem cells to more efficiently become bone-forming cells in a pre-clinical model of bone healing, or by protecting bone cells from adverse external insult that could impair their function and cause harm to the patient’s musculoskeletal system. Ultimately, we aim to use this information to create safer and more robust approaches to healing bone in various clinical settings and to improve bone health overall.
How is your research funded?
Our research is funded by grants from various sources, including the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and various industry partners, as well as foundations and specialty research societies.
Where have you recently published papers?
We’ve recently published in Nature Nanotechnology, the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and Science Translational Medicine.
Which honors are you most proud of and why?
My husband and I were recently named co-recipients of the Feinberg Medical Faculty Council’s Mentor of the Year Award. My husband is a practicing spine surgeon in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and he plays an integral role in both our laboratory research and in mentoring our students. The field of orthopaedics is highly competitive and each year we accept several research fellows who hope to gain the laboratory experience necessary in order to match successfully in an orthopaedics residency.