The White Laboratory, led by Ken White, PhD, is studying the molecular genetics of metabolic bone diseases involving the osteocyte-derived hormone fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23).
Mutations in FGF23 are responsible for the human phosphate wasting disorder autosomal dominant hypophosphatemic rickets (ADHR) and the converse disorder hyperphosphatemic familial tumoral calcinosis (hfTC). Studies in knock in and conditional animal models developed in the White lab, as well as in cell culture, are underway to elicit the factors controlling FGF23 production and to understand its bioactivity via the co-receptor KLOTHO.