The Center of Muscle and Bone Research (Zentrum für Muskel- und Knochenforschung, ZMK) (formerly known as Osteoporosis Research Group) is located at the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at the University Hospital Benjamin Franklin, Free University Berlin.
The Center of Muscle and Bone Research (ZMK) is an institution developed on the basis of osteoporosis research. The idea that the knowledge about one factor, which could be a trigger of an illness, does not contribute to the complete understanding of the disease has been the reason to build an interdisciplinary research team. The center employs physicians of different disciplines (internal medicine, gynaecology, paediatrics, radiology, osteology) as well as scientists in the fields of natural science (physicists, physiologists, chemists) and information technology (computer scientists, mathematicians). Complex diseases need differentiated approaches which can be implemented only when interfaces between different disciplines are created.
The current main focus of the ZMK is research of the interaction between muscles and bones. The hormonal regulation of the bone remains as another research focus. Biochemistry, biomechanics, and molecular biology are intertwined research fields in our research center.
The main fields of our research are:
Clinical intervention studies for prevention and therapy of osteoporosis (bisphosphonates, SERMs, hormones, PTH, strontium, calcitonin, active vitamin D metabolites).
Development of diagnostic tools for the diagnosis of osteoporosis.
Basic research of bone structure analysis (measures of complexity).
Bones and muscles in the microgravity condition.
Development of methods in micro-computed tomography.
"Mechanostat" as a regulator of the bone (osteocyte laboratory).
Muscle training and medicinal intervention.
Diagnosis of osteoporosis by quantitative ultrasound (QUS).
Epidemiology of the aging locomotor apparatus.
Muscle training after stroke, Parkinson's disease, or in paraplegics.
Muscle training of athletes.
At the moment, the ZMK consists of 34 team members financed exclusively through third party funds. In addition, there are four team members who are employed and financed by the University Hospital.
A professorship for women's health research and osteology has been affiliated with the ZMK since November 1, 2000.
The ZMK maintains extensive international co-operations with other researchers in bilateral projects, projects of the EU, ESA, or in worldwide pharmaceutical studies.