Alexander Knights

Dr. Knights will be joining us in March 2025!

Joint Crosstalk Laboratory

What do we study?

We are fundamentally interested in the complex cellular and molecular interactions that take place during joint homeostasis and disease. We broadly refer to these interactions as ‘crosstalk’.

Our primary focus is osteoarthritis (OA), a painful, debilitating joint disease that afflicts over half a billion people worldwide. OA is a highly complex disease that affects all the tissues of the joint organ, and we now appreciate its considerable systemic impacts too. Hence why our emphasis on crosstalk is so essential. We are also interested in the links between OA and associated musculoskeletal and metabolic diseases including inflammatory arthritis, bone fracture, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.

Themes
Studies in our laboratory revolve around three key themes that are pertinent to joint disease:
• Inflammation
• Fibrosis
• Mineralization
In particular, we want to understand how Wnt/β-catenin signaling functions as a unifying node that governs the intersection of these key aspects of joint disease.

Approaches
We employ a diverse range of approaches in our basic-translational laboratory, to probe questions nested in molecular biology, immunology, cell biology, and physiology.

Key publications
Knights AJ et al (2023) Synovial macrophage diversity and activation of M-CSF signaling in post-traumatic osteoarthritis, eLife
Knights AJ et al (2023) Synovial fibroblasts assume distinct functional identities and secrete R-spondin 2 in osteoarthritis, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
Knights AJ et al (2023) Inflammation in osteoarthritis: the latest progress and ongoing challenges, Current Opinion in Rheumatology
Knights AJ et al (2021) Acetylcholine‐synthesizing macrophages in subcutaneous fat are regulated by β2‐adrenergic signaling, EMBO J
Knights AJ et al (2020) Eosinophil function in adipose tissue is regulated by Krüppel-like factor 3 (KLF3), Nature Communications

About Dr. Knights

Dr. Alexander Knights hails from Sydney, Australia, where he did his undergraduate and graduate training. His work focused on transcriptional regulation of immunity and inflammation in metabolic tissues like fat. Dr. Knights moved to the University of Michigan for his postdoctoral training, with early work focused on the role of resident immune cells in fat and liver function. Later in his postdoc, he shifted his focus towards musculoskeletal biology, studying cellular crosstalk in post-traumatic osteoarthritis and fracture healing. This work formed the foundation of his independent research program, for which he was awarded a prestigious K99/R00 Pathway to Independence grant from the NIH (NIAMS).

Training and Education
Postdoc – Cellular and Molecular Biology 2019-2024 University of Michigan, USA
PhD – Molecular Genetics/Immunology 2014-2018 University of New South Wales, AUS
Honours – Biochemistry 2013 University of New South Wales, AUS
BSc (Adv) – Biochemistry 2009-2012 University of New South Wales, AUS
BA – Hispanic Studies 2009-2012 University of New South Wales, AUS