Rate My Professor Colin Dunstan

Dunstan was a key member of the team that identified osteoprotegerin, RANK ligand, and RANK as central regulators of bone resorption, with findings published in two papers in Cell and one in Nature. These discoveries paved the way for denosumab, a therapy approved worldwide for osteoporosis and metastatic bone disease. His research interests encompass local regulation of bone remodelling, interactions between bone cell activity and cancer cells, bone metastasis processes, and synthetic materials for repairing bone defects. Current work focuses on 3D-printed bioceramic scaffolds such as Sr-HT-Gahnite and Baghdadite for bone tissue engineering and regeneration, including studies on osteogenesis influenced by pore and channel geometries, elemental exchange at scaffold-bone interfaces, and functional ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene composites for ligament reconstructions. He has authored 284 publications with over 43,000 citations, serves on the editorial boards of Endocrinology and the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, and teaches introductory biomedical engineering courses. Dunstan holds patents leading to novel products in preclinical evaluation for bone repair to replace autografts.