He has used age- and radiation-related bone marrow adiposity in vivo and in vitro to determine if senescence plays a role in MSC depletion due to fate conversion to adipocytes. Chandra utilizes lineage-tracing methods to accurately characterize the mesenchymal fate and identify the pathways that regulate cell fate. His research aims to define the cues that regulate mesenchymal cell fate and assign them to an osteogenic or adipogenic fate. Chandra focuses on therapeutic options to regulate bone marrow adiposity. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) found in adult tissues function as progenitor cells that can proliferate and differentiate into various mesenchymal cell.

This is one major reason bones fail to regenerate in osteoporotic conditions.ĭr. Intriguingly, the depletion in functional MSCs often correlates with the increase in adiposity. Human MSCs (hMSCs) are the non-haematopoietic, multipotent stem cells with the capacity to differentiate into mesodermal lineage such as osteocytes, adipocytes. Bone marrow has a limited MSC pool that depletes with age and after disease. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent stem cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types, including bone cells (osteoblasts), cartilage cells (chondrocytes), muscle cells (myocytes) and fat cells that give rise to marrow adipose tissue (adipocytes).