Division of anatomy
Faculty - Biography - Kenneth Wright
I completed a PhD in anatomy in 1992, with a research focus on osteoclast biology, specifically looking at the dynamics of osteoclast recruitment and inhibition in long bones of rats during dietary calcium deficiency followed by calcium repletion. I spent the next two years in the laboratory of Dr. Brendan Boyce at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, studying various aspects of osteoclast apoptosis in in vivo models: in transgenic mice in which the SV40 T antigen was fused to the TRAP promoter, in mice which had local injections of IL-1 over the calvaria, and in mice which had metastatic cancer in bone that were treated with bisphosphonates.
Upon returning to Loma Linda University to teach gross anatomy, I have further developed the calcium deficiency-repletion model to study osteoclast apoptosis in vivo, and have been involved with projects looking at apoptotic giant cells in human giant cell tumor of bone, and changes in bone measurements in rats fed a high-sucrose diet. In addition to research endeavors, I coordinate the dental anatomy course which combines gross and microscopic anatomy, embryology, and oral histology, I lecture in medical gross anatomy, and I give lectures on apoptosis in graduate courses on the nervous system and cancer.