Student Presenter(s): Rishika Thayavally
Faculty Mentor: Leonidas Salichos
School/College: Arts and Sciences, Old Westbury

Fracture healing is a complex process that involves regeneration in order to restore the bone’s proper structural and functional integrity. Physiological bone repair is a multistep process that involves the formation of a hard and soft callus, endochondral ossification and remodeling. Though healing times vary depending on the case, most human fractures heal within 6 to 12 weeks. However, approximately 10% of fractures fail to heal, resulting in a delay or nonunion. Nonunions typically require surgical intervention to promote proper healing and can have a significant impact on an individual’s quality of life. Despite advancements in scientific understanding and treatment methods, the rate of fracture nonunions remains fairly constant. Moreover, the molecular differences between physiological fracture repair and nonunions remain elusive. To gain a better understanding of these differences, we conducted a total RNA sequence analysis of human fracture callus (representing normal healing) and nonunion tissues (oligotrophic and hypertrophic). Bioinformatic analyses revealed that thousands of genes are expressed. Additionally, specific signaling pathways are also activated. Previous studies have identified specific pathways affected by miRNA and we were able to confirm this using RNA sequence analysis. Through differential gene expression analysis, we also hope to identify relevant biological pathways that may be affected in the three conditions.