Dr. Frank Beier received his Ph.D in Biology at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, in 1995. He is now a Professor in the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology at The University of Western Ontario. Dr. Beier is the current director of the Collaborative Graduate Program in Developmental Biology at The University of Western Ontario. He holds a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Musculoskeletal Health, received a Dean’s Award of Excellence for Graduate Student Teaching in 2008 and a Faculty Scholar Award in 2009. He was the 2010 Scientist of the Year at the Children’s Health Research Institute. Dr. Beier s lab works on the signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms that regulate the biology of cartilage cells (chondrocytes) and other skeletal cells, both during development and in osteoarthritis. In this research, the Beier lab uses a combination of gene expression profiling, in-depth studies of identified genes in genetically altered mice and surgical models in mice and rats. Beiers studies are currently funded by CIHR and NIH. Currently he is a member of CIHR and NIH peer review committees, of the Faculty of 1000 and the Editorial Board of PLoS One.
