John Wysolmerski

Professor
Section of Endocrinology & Metabolism

Dr. Wysolmerski specializes in the treatment of patients with endocrine disorders. His special interests are in disorders of calcium metabolism, osteoporosis, transplantation-related bone disease, and other metabolic bone disorders such as Pagets Disease. Dr. Wysolmerski practices as part of the Yale Bone Center, a multidisciplinary team dedicated to the treatment and research of osteoporosis and other metabolic bone disorders. He is Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Endocrinology and Metabolism and is a member of the American College of Physicians, The Endocrine Society and The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. He is an internationally-renowned expert on the effects of calcium-regulating hormones on mammary development and physiology. . He has been a member of the Yale Medical School faculty since 1993.

Research Interests

Dr. Wysolmerski’s laboratory is interested in the mechanisms by which parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) regulates fetal development. He is currently focusing on mammary gland development in the mouse as a model of PTHrP’s developmental effects. His laboratory has demonstrated that PTHrP is necessary for mammary gland formation in the mouse; in the absence of PTHrP or its receptor, embryonic mammary development fails and the mammary epithelial cells die before birth. Mechanistically, it appears that PTHrP is an important participant in the epithelial-mesenchymal interactions that initiate branching morphogenesis. Our current working hypothesis is that PTHrP serves as a critical epithelial signal that regulates mesenchymal cell fate decisions in such a way as to allow the mesenchyme to support epithelial morphogenesis. The laboratory is focusing on defining the signaling events in embryonic mesenchymal cells triggered by PTHrP in order to understand the mesenchymally-derived signals that are important for the survival and morphogenesis of the mammary epithelium.

Dr. Wysolmerski’s laboratory is also interested in bone and mineral metabolism during lactation. We have defined a feedback loop between bone and breast whereby PTHrP is secreted by mammary epithelial cells and liberates calcium from the skeleton for the purposes of milk production. Calcium, in turn, acts on the calcium sensing receptor (CaR) in the breast in order to inhibit PTHrP production. Current work involves studies on several aspects of this regulatory loop. We are studying the mechanisms by which CaR signaling affects PTHrP secretion by breast cells. We are studying the mechanisms by which CaR signaling regulates calcium transport into milk. We are studying the systemic signals cooperating with PTHrP to induce accelerated bone resorption and bone loss during lactation. Finally, we are studying the hormonal and molecular mechanisms leading to the rapid recovery of bone mass after lactation is concluded.

A list of Dr. Wysolmerski’s publications is available via COS and his NIH biosketch can be downloaded here.

Education:

B.S. Yale University, 1982 M.D. Yale University School of Medicine, 1986 Internship and Residency, Tufts New England Medical Center, 1986-1989 Endocrine Fellowship, Yale University School of Medicine, 1990-1993

Contact

Campus Address
Department of Internal Medicine
Section of Endocrinology
Yale University
School of Medicine
PO Box 208020
New Haven, CT
06520-8020

E-mail
john.wysolmerski@yale.edu

For Appointments
203.737.1932

Telephone
203.785.7447

Fax
203.737.4360