Associate Professor Cory Xian

Dr Xian is a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow based at the Sansom Institute, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia. He is interested in tissue growth and injury repair research. His earlier postdoctoral research positions include those at Child Health Research Institute (1992-1998), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1999), and Flinders University (2000-2001). Since 2001, with funding from Bone Growth Foundation and competitive grants from various sources including NHMRC, he has been leading his research group conducting bone growth and repair research at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital with strong affiliation with The University of Adelaide. Since 2008, as a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and Associate Research Professor, he has relocated his research group to Sansom Institute, University of South Australia, where he leads The Bone Growth and Repair Research Unit, which is currently composed of 3 postdoctoral researchers, 8 PhD students, 3 honours students.

Currently, we conduct research in 4 areas of bone biology: (1) Bone growth mechanisms and regulation including nutritional intervention; (2) Mechanisms for injury responses and bone growth defects after growth plate fracture; (3) Development of biological treatments for repairing injured growth plate cartilage; (4) Mechanisms for chemotherapy-induced bone growth arrest and osteoporosis and development of preventative treatments.

• Supervising research programs of Honours, Master and PhD students;
• Supervising research programs of research assistants, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars;
• Delivering guest lectures to biomedical science and biotechnology students at both University of South Australia and University of Adelaide.

Editorial Board Memberships: Dr Xian serves as editorial board members for four international scientific journals.

Dr Xian serves as a Managing Editor for Frontiers in Bioscience.

Associate Research Professor, Sansom Institute, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Division of Health Sciences, University of South Australia (2008-current)

Affiliate Associate Professor, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, & School of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Adelaide (2006-current)

Affiliate Principal Research Fellow, Women's and Children's Health Research Institute (2007-current)

PhD (Protein chemistry), Murdoch University, Western Australia, 1993

MSc (Nutritional Biochemistry), University of New England, NSW, 1990

• In my post-doctoral research, I have built up a track record in research on tissue growth, injury repair and roles of growth factors.
• Since 2002, I have focused on bone growth, growth plate injury and repair, an exciting area of paediatric bone biology that is relatively unexplored and yet scientifically challenging and clinically critically impacting on children’s bone growth, bone mass accumulation, and adult bone health. My group mainly focuses on the following three areas.
• Mechanisms of normal bone growth and nutritional regulation: We are interested in understanding the mechanisms for the normal bone growth and currently we are focusing on understanding the growth plate biology and regulation of bone lengthening. We are also investigating whether some micro-nutrients can be used to positively modulate bone growth, bone mass accumulation, populations of skeletal stem cells, and bone health.
• Mechanisms for growth plate trauma injury-induced growth defects: Growth plate trauma injury is a common and significant problem as 20% childhood bone fractures involve growth plate and the inured growth plate cartilage is often undesirably repaired by bony tissue leading to growth defects. My group has been investigating mechanisms for the faulty repair and developing growth factor- and stem cell- based repair.
• Mechanisms for and prevention of chemotherapy-induced growth defects: While chemotherapy-based cancer treatment is becoming more successful and thus the use of chemotherapy is becoming more intensified, chemotherapy-induced long-term side effects are becoming more obvious as it stunts the bone growth and causes osteoporosis and frequent bone fractures which persists into adulthood. My group is investigating the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms for the bone growth defects and regeneration potentials of bone and bone marrow. We also aim to develop supplementary preventative treatment that will preserve bone growth during chemotherapy.

Selected Research Papers Since 2001:

Zhang J, Lou X, Xian CJ, Liu Z, Zhou X-F (2001). Endogenous BDNF is required for myelination and regeneration of injured sciatic nerve in rodents. Eur. J. Neurosci. 12, 4171-4180.

Troyer KL, Luetteke NC, Saxon ML, Qiu TH, Xian CJ, & Lee DC (2001). Growth retardation, duodenal lesions and aberrant ileum architecture in triple null mice lacking EGF, amphiregulin and TGF-alpha. Gastroenterology 121, 68-78.

Xian CJ, Li L, Deng YS, Zhou SP & Zhou XF (2001). Lack of effects of transforming growth factor-alpha gene knockout on peripheral nerve regeneration may result from compensatory mechanisms. Exp. Neurol. 172, 182-188.

Xian CJ, Cool J, Howarth GS, & Read LC (2002). Effects of TGF-alpha gene knock out on intestinal epithelial cell proliferation, migration, apoptosis, and mucosal recovery from methotrexate-induced damage. Journal of Cellular Physiology 191, 105-115.

Li L, Xian CJ, Zhong JH, Zhou X-F (2002). Effect of lumbar 5 ventral root transection on pain behaviors: a novel rat model for neuropathic pain without axotomy of primary sensory neurons. Exp. Neurol. 175, 23-34

Li L, Xian CJ, Zhong JH, Zhou XF (2003). Lumbar 5 ventral root transection induced upregulation of nerve growth factor in sensory neurons and their target tissues: a mechanism in neuropathic pain. Mol. Cell. Neurosci. 23, 232-250.

Xian CJ, Zhou FH, McCarty RC, & Foster BK (2004). Intramembranous ossification mechanism for bone bridge formation at the growth plate cartilage injury site. J. Orthop. Res. 22, 417-426.

Xian CJ, Howarth GS, Cool JC, and Foster BK (2004). Effects of acute 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy and insulin-like growth factor-I pretreatment on growth plate cartilage and metaphyseal bone in rats. BONE 35, 739-749.

Zhou FH, Foster BK, Sander G, and Xian CJ (2004). Expression of inflammatory cytokines and growth factors at the injured growth plate of young rats. BONE 35, 1307-1315.

Zhou X-F, Li WP, Zhong JH, Mi JX, and Xian CJ (2005). Differential effects of endogenous BDNF on the survival of axotomized sensory neurons in dorsal root ganglia: a possible role for the p75 neurotrophin receptor. Neuroscience 132, 591-603

Xian CJ, JC Cool, T Pyragius, BK Foster (2006). Damage and recovery of the bone growth mechanism in young rats following 5-fluorouracil acute chemotherapy. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry 99, 1688-1704

Arasapam G, J Cool, M Scherer, BK Foster, CJ Xian (2006). Roles of iNOS and Cox-2 in the bony repair of the injured growth plate cartilage. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry 99, 450-461

Ngo T, M Scherer, FH Zhou, BK Foster, CJ Xian (2006). Expression of Bone Morphogenetic Proteins and Receptors at Injured Growth Plate Cartilage in Young Rats. J Histochem. Cytochem. 54, 845-854

Zhou FH, BK Foster, XF Zhou, CJ Xian (2006). TNF-alpha mediates p38 MAP kinase activation and negatively regulates bone formation at the growth plate injury site in rats. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 21, 1075-1088

Chung R, J Cool, M Scherer, BK Foster, CJ Xian (2006). Roles of neutrophil-mediated inflammatory response in the bony repair of the injured growth plate cartilage in rats. J Leukocyte Biol 80, 1272-80

Xian CJ, JC Cool, J van Gangelan, BK Foster, GS Howarth (2007). Effects of etoposide and cyclophosphamide acute chemotherapy on growth plate and metaphyseal bone in rats. Cancer Biology & Therapy 6, 170-177

Xian CJ, JC Cool, MA Scherer, CE Macsai, CM Fan, M Covino, BK Foster (2007). Cellular mechanisms for methotrexate chemotherapy-induced bone growth defects. BONE 41, 842-850

Xian CJ, JC Cool, MA Scherer, CM Fan, BK Foster (2008). Folinic acid attenuates methotrexate chemotherapy-induced damages on bone growth mechanisms and pools of bone marrow stromal cells. Journal Cellular Physiology 214, 777-785

Xian CJ and X-F Zhou (2000). Sensitive and non-radioactive in situ detection of neurotrophin mRNAs in the nervous system. In RA Rush (ed): Neurotrophin and Receptor Methods and Protocols. Methods Mol Biol. 169:91-98 (Invited book chapter)

Xian CJ (2003). Roles of growth factors in chemotherapy-induced intestinal mucosal damage repair. Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology 4, 260-269 (Invited review)

Xian CJ & Zhou XF (2004). EGF family of growth factors: essential roles and functional redundancy in the nerve system. Frontiers in Bioscience 9, 85-92 (Invited review)

Xian CJ and BK Foster (2006). Repair of injured articular and growth plate cartilage using mesenchymal stem cells and chondrogenic gene therapy. Current Stem Cell Research and Therapy 1, 213-229 (Invited review)

Xian CJ and Foster BK. (2006). The biological aspects of children's fractures. In: Fractures in Children. (6th edition). Eds: Beaty J and Kasser J. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia. Pages 21-50 (Invited book chapter)

Xian CJ (2007). Roles of epidermal growth factor family in the regulation of postnatal somatic growth. Endocrine Reviews 28, 284-296

Macsai CE, BK Foster, CJ Xian (2008). Roles of Wnt signalling in bone growth, remodelling, skeletal disorders and fracture repair. Journal of Cellular Physiology 215, 578-587

Xian CJ, R Chung, CE Macsai, BK Foster (2008). Injury responses and repair mechanisms at the injured growth plate cartilage of growing long bones. In: Research Advances in Histochemistry and Cytochemistry. Ed: R.M. Mohan. Global Research Network, Kerala, India

Xian CJ, JC Cool, M Scherer, CM Fan, and BK Foster (2008). Folinic acid attenuates methotrexate chemotherapy-induced damages on bone growth mechanisms and bone marrow stromal cells. Journal of Cellular Physiology 214:777-85.

Fan C, Cool JC, Scherer MA, Foster BK, Shandala T, Tapp H, Xian CJ (2009). Damaging effects of chronic low-dose methotrexate usage on primary bone formation in young rats and potential protective effects of folinic acid supplementary treatment. Bone 44(1):61-70

McCarty RC, Gronthos S, Zannettino AC, Foster BK, Xian CJ (2009). Characterisation and Developmental Potential of Ovine Bone Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Journal of Cellular Physiology. 219: 324-33

Xian CJ and Zhou X-F (2009). Treating skeletal pain: limitations of conventional anti-inflammatory drugs and anti-neurotrophic factor as a possible alternative. Nature Clinical Practice (Rheumatology) 5, 92-98 (Invited review)

Chung R, BK Foster, AC Zannettino, CJ Xian (2009). Potential roles of growth factor PDGF-BB in the bony repair of injured growth plate. Bone 44, 878-885

Fong L, K Tan, C Tran, JC Cool, MA Scherer, R Elovaris, P Coyle, BK Foster, AM Rofe, and CJ Xian (2009). Interaction of dietary zinc and intracellular binding protein metallothionein in postnatal bone growth. Bone. 2009 Feb 27. [Epub ahead of print]