Diana Leticia Cabrera Amaro

Doctor of Philosophy, (Nutritional Science)
Study Completed: 2019
College of Sciences

Citation

Thesis Title
Biomaker development to assess bone health

Read article at Massey Research Online: MRO icon

Osteoporosis is a systemic disease characterised by bone loss and increased risk of fractures. Bone biomarkers are routinely used to assess bone turnover rate but a novel approach such as metabolomics can be used to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of action, diagnosis and monitoring of bone health. Ms Cabrera Amaro used untargeted Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry-based metabolomics as a tool for discovery of novel biomarkers for postmenopausal osteoporosis. This included the aspects of biomarker discovery to detect bone loss associated metabolites in a large animal model for postmenopausal osteoporosis. She found significant metabolic variation in plasma lipids and metabolites in the postmenopausal state. These results suggest that untargeted metabolomics can be used to underlie metabolic changes in plasma associated with postmenopausal osteoporosis and identify potential novel biomarkers of bone loss.

Supervisors
Professor Marlena Kruger
Dr Karl Fraser
Dr Fran Wolber
Dr Nicole Roy