Dr. Karen Bussard

Dr. Karen M. Bussard is an Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. She graduated in Biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a BS degree in Biology 1999. Subsequently, she obtained her MS in Biomedical Engineering and PhD in Pathobiology at the Pennsylvania State University in 2002 and 2008, respectively. Research in Dr. Bussard's laboratory investigates alterations in bone osteoblasts that occur during bone metastatic breast cancer progression. The lab combines patient sample, in-vivo model, multi-spectral fluorescent imaging, and molecular cell biology-based approaches. Dr. Bussard's research encompasses three themes: 1) the study of molecular changes within osteoblast subsets in response to early breast cancer dissemination to bone.  2) Analysis of mechanisms that osteoblast subsets use to suppress cancer progression in bone, with an emphasis on extracellular vesicles and soluble mediators. 3) The elucidation of the ways osteoblast subsets regulate osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption during the early stages of bone metastatic breast cancer progression.