Professor Duque is the former director of AIMSS, a geriatrician and clinical and biomedical researcher with a special interest in osteoporosis, sarcopenia and frailty in older persons.
Research focus
Professor Duque’s translational research program is aimed at the identification of the mechanisms of age-related musculoskeletal diseases and frailty. This program focuses on the age-related changes in muscle and bone and their significance in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia, osteoporosis, osteosarcopenia and physical frailty.
Biomedical Research
The biomedical section of this program is dedicated to the understanding of age-related changes in mesenchymal stem cell differentiation and the mechanisms that explain their predominant differentiation into fat.
This team also investigates the mechanisms of lipotoxicity in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia and osteoporosis, while looking at new potential therapeutic approaches to prevent this phenomenon. This programs also involves the development and testing of multiple animal models of accelerated ageing and osteosarcopenia.
Translational Research
Our translational team focuses on the development and testing of new therapies for osteoporosis, sarcopenia and osteosarcopenia.
With several patents already obtained by this team, our research activities focus on understanding the mechanism of action of these new treatments, their potential toxicity and therapeutic modalities, and completion of the preclinical validation of these compounds.
Clinical Research
Our clinical research team performs three set of activities:
- Our imaging team works on developing and testing new imaging techniques to quantify changes in the musculoskeletal system that are associated with sarcopenia, osteoporosis and osteosarcopenia, while also looking at optimisation of the imaging techniques that are currently available in the preclinical and clinical settings.
- Our Clinical Trials Unit oversees multiple phase II, III and IV clinical trials testing the effectiveness and safety of several new compounds aimed to treat osteoporosis, sarcopenia, frailty and osteosarcopenia.
- Our Clinical Interventions Unit is dedicated to the development of innovative models of care aimed at the treatment and prevention of falls, fractures and frailty in our older population.
