Kelsey Collins, PhD
Assistant Professor
Orthopaedic Surgery
School of Medicine

Louis, she created a tissue engineering and regenerative medicine platform to determine the signaling mechanisms between adipose and musculoskeletal tissues. For this work, she received the New Investigator Recognition Award from the Orthopaedic Research Society in 2020 and was named among the inaugural class of Rising Stars in Engineering in Health by Columbia University in 2020. Her transition to independence is supported by an NIH NIAMS K99/R00 Award in which she aims to determine the role of adipokines in osteoarthritis (OA) susceptibility, pain, and generate a new class of OA therapies.

In the Laboratory for Musculoskeletal Crosstalk, we leverage interdisciplinary approaches in bioengineering, endocrinology, and physiology to determine molecular mechanisms of tissue crosstalk in osteoarthritis. Our work aims to delineate fat-cartilage signals that contribute to osteoarthritis susceptibility and pain to generate a new class of regenerative medicine-based therapies. We use in vitro and in vivo approaches, induced pluripotent stem cells, CRISPR-Cas9 genome engineering, mouse models, human tissues, and state-of-the-art multi-omic spatial approaches. As pathological fat signaling may play a role in many disease processes, we work to define the mechanisms and create therapies that have implications to aging, obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases.

We value diversity in backgrounds and experience. We believe that diversity drives creativity and innovation, and we are dedicated to fostering an inclusive ecosystem where everyone feels valued and respected. Our mission is to improve patient outcomes through exciting, collaborative and innovative approaches in Musculoskeletal Research.

• Hydrogel Encapsulation of Genome-Engineered Stem Cells for Long-Term Self-Regulating Anti-Cytokine Therapy.
  Gels (Basel, Switzerland) 2023 Collins KH, Pferdehirt L, Saleh LS, Savadipour A, Springer LE, Lenz KL, Thompson DM, Oswald SJ, Pham CTN, Guilak F
• The role of PIEZO ion channels in the musculoskeletal system.
  American journal of physiology. Cell physiology 2023 Savadipour A, Palmer D, Ely EV, Collins KH, Garcia-Castorena JM, Harissa Z, Kim YS, Oestrich A, Qu F, Rashidi N, Guilak F
• #OrthoTwitter: Relationship Between Author Twitter Utilization and Academic Impact in Orthopaedic Surgery.
  Cureus 2023 Halvorson RT, Allahabadi S, Cevallos N, Foley AJ, Collins K, Torres Espin A, Feeley BT, Pandya NK, Bailey JF
• Trimming the fat - is leptin crosstalk the link between obesity and osteoarthritis?
  Osteoarthritis and cartilage 2022 Collins KH, Guilak F
• Leptin mediates the regulation of muscle mass and strength by adipose tissue.
  The Journal of physiology 2022 Collins KH, Gui C, Ely EV, Lenz KL, Harris CA, Guilak F, Meyer GA
• A genome-engineered bioartificial implant for autoregulated anticytokine drug delivery.
  Science advances 2021 Choi YR, Collins KH, Springer LE, Pferdehirt L, Ross AK, Wu CL, Moutos FT, Harasymowicz NS, Brunger JM, Pham CTN, Guilak F
• Taxonomic changes in the gut microbiota are associated with cartilage damage independent of adiposity, high fat diet, and joint injury.
  Scientific reports 2021 Collins KH, Schwartz DJ, Lenz KL, Harris CA, Guilak F
• Contractility of permeabilized rat vastus intermedius muscle fibres following high-fat, high-sucrose diet consumption.
  Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme 2021 Smith IC, Ostertag C, O'Reilly JJ, Rios JL, Klancic T, MacDonald GZ, Collins KH, Reimer RA, Herzog W
• Immunoengineering the next generation of arthritis therapies.
  Acta biomaterialia 2021 Klimak M, Nims RJ, Pferdehirt L, Collins KH, Harasymowicz NS, Oswald SJ, Setton LA, Guilak F
• Adipose tissue is a critical regulator of osteoarthritis.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2021 Collins KH, Lenz KL, Pollitt EN, Ferguson D, Hutson I, Springer LE, Oestreich AK, Tang R, Choi YR, Meyer GA, Teitelbaum SL, Pham CTN, Harris CA, Guilak F
• Is Obesity a Disease of Stem Cells?
  Cell stem cell 2020 Oestreich AK, Collins KH, Harasymowicz NS, Wu CL, Guilak F
• Infiltration of intramuscular adipose tissue impairs skeletal muscle contraction.
  The Journal of physiology 2020 Biltz NK, Collins KH, Shen KC, Schwartz K, Harris CA, Meyer GA
• Gene therapy for follistatin mitigates systemic metabolic inflammation and post-traumatic arthritis in high-fat diet-induced obesity.
  Science advances 2020 Tang R, Harasymowicz NS, Wu CL, Collins KH, Choi YR, Oswald SJ, Guilak F
• The role of macrophages in osteoarthritis and cartilage repair.
  Osteoarthritis and cartilage 2020 Wu CL, Harasymowicz NS, Klimak MA, Collins KH, Guilak F
• Impact of age on host responses to diet-induced obesity: Development of joint damage and metabolic set points.
  Journal of sport and health science 2019 Collins KH, MacDonald GZ, Hart DA, Seerattan RA, Rios JL, Reimer RA, Herzog W
• Designer Stem Cells: Genome Engineering and the Next Generation of Cell-Based Therapies.
  Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society 2019 Guilak F, Pferdehirt L, Ross AK, Choi YR, Collins K, Nims RJ, Katz DB, Klimak M, Tabbaa S, Pham CTN
• Protective effect of prebiotic and exercise intervention on knee health in a rat model of diet-induced obesity.
  Scientific reports 2019 Rios JL, Bomhof MR, Reimer RA, Hart DA, Collins KH, Herzog W
• Nanotherapy Targeting NF-κB Attenuates Acute Pain After Joint Injury.
  Precision nanomedicine 2019 Yan H, Duan X, Collins KH, Springer LE, Guilak F, Wickline SA, Rai MF, Pan H, Pham CTN
• Maternal prebiotic supplementation reduces fatty liver development in offspring through altered microbial and metabolomic profiles in rats.
  FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 2019 Paul HA, Collins KH, Nicolucci AC, Urbanski SJ, Hart DA, Vogel HJ, Reimer RA
• Genome Engineering for Osteoarthritis: From Designer Cells to Disease-Modifying Drugs.
  Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine 2019 Choi YR, Collins KH, Lee JW, Kang HJ, Guilak F
• Association of Metabolic Markers with self-reported osteoarthritis among middle-aged BMI-defined non-obese individuals: a cross-sectional study.
  BMC obesity 2018 Collins KH, Sharif B, Reimer RA, Sanmartin C, Herzog W, Chin R, Marshall DA
• High-fat/high-sucrose diet-induced obesity results in joint-specific development of osteoarthritis-like degeneration in a rat model.
  Bone & joint research 2018 Collins KH, Hart DA, Seerattan RA, Reimer RA, Herzog W
• Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, and Musculoskeletal Disease: Common Inflammatory Pathways Suggest a Central Role for Loss of Muscle Integrity.
  Frontiers in physiology 2018 Collins KH, Herzog W, MacDonald GZ, Reimer RA, Rios JL, Smith IC, Zernicke RF, Hart DA
• Potential Impact of Metabolic and Gut Microbial Response to Pregnancy and Lactation in Lean and Diet-Induced Obese Rats on Offspring Obesity Risk.
  Molecular nutrition & food research 2018 Paul HA, Collins KH, Bomhof MR, Vogel HJ, Reimer RA
• Diet-induced obesity leads to pro-inflammatory alterations to the vitreous humour of the eye in a rat model.
  Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] 2017 Collins KH, Herzog W, Reimer RA, Reno CR, Heard BJ, Hart DA
• Acute and chronic changes in rat soleus muscle after high-fat high-sucrose diet.
  Physiological reports 2017 Collins KH, Hart DA, Smith IC, Issler AM, Reimer RA, Seerattan RA, Rios JL, Herzog W
• Association of body mass index (BMI) and percent body fat among BMI-defined non-obese middle-aged individuals: Insights from a population-based Canadian sample.
  Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique 2017 Collins KH, Sharif B, Sanmartin C, Reimer RA, Herzog W, Chin R, Marshall DA
• A High-Fat High-Sucrose Diet Rapidly Alters Muscle Integrity, Inflammation and Gut Microbiota in Male Rats.
  Scientific reports 2016 Collins KH, Paul HA, Hart DA, Reimer RA, Smith IC, Rios JL, Seerattan RA, Herzog W
• Reduced knee adduction moments for management of knee osteoarthritis:: A three month phase I/II randomized controlled trial.
  Gait & posture 2016 Lewinson RT, Vallerand IA, Collins KH, Wiley JP, Lun VMY, Patel C, Woodhouse LJ, Reimer RA, Worobets JT, Herzog W, Stefanyshyn DJ
• High-fat high-sucrose diet leads to dynamic structural and inflammatory alterations in the rat vastus lateralis muscle.
  Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society 2016 Collins KH, Hart DA, Reimer RA, Seerattan RA, Waters-Banker C, Sibole SC, Herzog W
• Response to diet-induced obesity produces time-dependent induction and progression of metabolic osteoarthritis in rat knees.
  Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society 2015 Collins KH, Hart DA, Reimer RA, Seerattan RA, Herzog W
• Relationship between inflammation, the gut microbiota, and metabolic osteoarthritis development: studies in a rat model.
  Osteoarthritis and cartilage 2015 Collins KH, Paul HA, Reimer RA, Seerattan RA, Hart DA, Herzog W
• Using diet-induced obesity to understand a metabolic subtype of osteoarthritis in rats.
  Osteoarthritis and cartilage 2015 Collins KH, Reimer RA, Seerattan RA, Leonard TR, Herzog W
• Reduced knee joint loading with lateral and medial wedge insoles for management of knee osteoarthritis: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
  BMC musculoskeletal disorders 2014 Lewinson RT, Collins KH, Vallerand IA, Wiley JP, Woodhouse LJ, Reimer RA, Worobets JT, Herzog W, Stefanyshyn DJ
• Ground reaction force estimates from ActiGraph GT3X+ hip accelerations.
  PloS one 2014 Neugebauer JM, Collins KH, Hawkins DA