Dr. Matthew Greenblatt awarded Paul-Gallin Trailblazer Prize for bone stem cell discoveries

(Press-News.org) Dr. Matthew Greenblatt will receive the prestigious Paul-Gallin Trailblazer Prize for Physician-Scientists in recognition of his discovery of distinct types of bone-building stem cells in different parts of the body. These unique cells have the ability to create copies of themselves as well as develop into specialized cells that perform distinct functions in the body.

Each year, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health awards the Paul-Gallin Trailblazer Prize to an early- to mid-career physician-scientist who is translating their basic science discoveries into new ways to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure disease or disability. This year, Dr. Greenblatt, an associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, was selected by a jury of biomedical research leaders for the discovery that bone contains multiple populations of stem cells with different anatomic locations and functions. The findings have opened many new areas of research looking into targeted therapies for bone cancer, osteoporosis and rare bone conditions such as malformations of the skull. The award carries a $100,000 honorarium and will be presented to Dr. Greenblatt on Oct. 22 at the FNIH Annual Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C.

“This award feels like a milestone in the recognition of our work identifying new bone stem cells,” said Dr. Greenblatt, who is also a Rohr Family Research Scholar at Weill Cornell Medicine, pathologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and co-director of the Skeletal Health and Orthopedic Research program at Hospital for Special Surgery. “It feels like an inflection point where our discoveries start to take on a life of their own as these new stem cells gain broader acceptance.”

Dr. Greenblatt’s hunt for bone stem cells was inspired by his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of immunologist Dr. Laurie Glimcher, the former Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine. Immunologists have a detailed understanding of the many types of immune cells, he said, and have leveraged that information to develop a host of immunotherapies for cancers and other diseases. When Dr. Greenblatt pivoted to study bone disease, he was frustrated to discover much more limited information about bone cell types.

“We knew that there are cells that make bone, called osteoblasts, and cells that break down bone, called osteoclasts,” he said. “We hadn’t advanced much since those cell types were discovered over a century ago.”

That lack of progress motivated Dr. Greenblatt to identify and more precisely define all the cell types involved in bone formation. His work led him to discover distinct stem cell types in the skull, spine and other bones. He believes that most diseases that affect bone are influenced by the unique properties of bone-forming stem cells in each bone type, and his research so far supports that idea.  

“Breast and prostate cancer metastasize to the spine more often than to other types of bone, because of the properties of spine-forming stem cells,” Dr. Greenblatt said. “By studying spine stem cells, we found a potential therapeutic target to block spine metastases.”

In addition to developing his discoveries into potential new therapies for bone diseases, Dr. Greenblatt continues to search for new bone stem cell types with collaborators at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and Hospital for Special Surgery. These include Dr. Caitlin Hoffman, an associate professor of neurological surgery; Dr. Dawid Nowak, an assistant professor of pharmacology in medicine; and Dr. Li Gan, director of the Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, all at Weill Cornell Medicine.

“We think there are still bone stem cells left to find, and we have a few more in the pipeline already,” he said.

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