Courtney Karner, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Dr. Karner is originally from Oklahoma. He earned his Ph.D. at UT Southwestern in the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Carroll where he studied WNT signaling in the developing kidney. After this, he received postdoctoral training at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri where he studied the interplay of WNT signaling and cellular metabolism during osteoblast differentiation. He next established his laboratory in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. While at Duke, Dr. Karner identified glutamine as a critical nutrient regulating multiple stages of osteoblast differentiation. Dr. Karner is excited to bring his expertise in developmental bone biology, WNT signaling and amino acid metabolism back to UTSW. His laboratory will focus on the role and regulation of amino acid metabolism during cell fate specification and differentiation with a special emphasis on identifying novel bone forming therapies. Outside of the lab, he has limited personal interests outside of cooking and chauffeuring his children to various sporting or school related events.

• Amino Acid Transport
• Bone Development and Homeostasis
• Cellular Differentiation
• Cellular Metabolism
• Glutamine Metabolism
• Osteoblast/Bone Formation
• Osteoclast/Bone Resorption
• Osteoporosis
• Proline Metabolism
• WNT Signaling

Featured Publications

Obesity alters the collagen organization and mechanical properties of murine cartilage.

Collins AT, Hu G, Newman H, Reinsvold MH, Goldsmith MR, Twomey-Kozak JN, Leddy HA, Sharma D, Shen L, DeFrate LE, Karner CM, Sci Rep 2021 Jan 11 1 1626

Biphasic regulation of glutamine consumption by WNT during osteoblast differentiation.

Shen L, Sharma D, Yu Y, Long F, Karner CM, J Cell Sci 2021 Jan 134 1

The Amino Acid Sensor Eif2ak4/GCN2 Is Required for Proliferation of Osteoblast Progenitors in Mice.

Hu G, Yu Y, Tang YJ, Wu C, Long F, Karner CM, J Bone Miner Res 2020 May

Glutamine Metabolism Regulates Proliferation and Lineage Allocation in Skeletal Stem Cells.

Yu Y, Newman H, Shen L, Sharma D, Hu G, Mirando AJ, Zhang H, Knudsen E, Zhang GF, Hilton MJ, Karner CM, Cell Metab 2019 04 29 4 966-978.e4

Bmp Induces Osteoblast Differentiation through both Smad4 and mTORC1 Signaling.

Karner CM, Lee SY, Long F, Mol Cell Biol 2017 02 37 4

Wnt Protein Signaling Reduces Nuclear Acetyl-CoA Levels to Suppress Gene Expression during Osteoblast Differentiation.

Karner CM, Esen E, Chen J, Hsu FF, Turk J, Long F, J Biol Chem 2016 Jun 291 25 13028-39

Gpr126/Adgrg6 deletion in cartilage models idiopathic scoliosis and pectus excavatum in mice.

Karner CM, Long F, Solnica-Krezel L, Monk KR, Gray RS, Hum Mol Genet 2015 Aug 24 15 4365-73

Increased glutamine catabolism mediates bone anabolism in response to WNT signaling.

Karner CM, Esen E, Okunade AL, Patterson BW, Long F, J Clin Invest 2015 Feb 125 2 551-62

Canonical Wnt9b signaling balances progenitor cell expansion and differentiation during kidney development.

Karner CM, Das A, Ma Z, Self M, Chen C, Lum L, Oliver G, Carroll TJ, Development 2011 Apr 138 7 1247-57

Wnt9b signaling regulates planar cell polarity and kidney tubule morphogenesis.

Karner CM, Chirumamilla R, Aoki S, Igarashi P, Wallingford JB, Carroll TJ, Nat Genet 2009 Jul 41 7 793-9

 Featured Books

Endochondral Ossification. In The Primer on the Metabolic Bone Diseases and Disorders of Mineral Metabolism, 9th Ed.

Karner, CM, Hilton, MJ (2018).

Whole-mount in situ hybridization. In Skeletal Development and Repair: Methods in Molecular Biology

Sharma D, Hilton, MJ, Karner, CM (2021).

Radiolabeled Amino Acid Uptake Assays in Primary Bone Cells and Bone Explants. In Skeletal Development and Repair: Methods in Molecular Biology

Shen, L, Karner, CM (2021).

• Joe B. Milam Award
  Distinguished Alumnus - East Central University (2017)
• John Haddad Young Investigator Award
  Advances in Mineral MEtabolism (AIMM) and American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) (2017)
• Harold M. Frost Young Investigator Award
  American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (2016)
• Nominata Award
  Best Graduate Thesis - UT Southwestern Medical Center (2010)
• Academic All-American
  College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) (2003)

• Advances in Mineral Metabolism (AIMM) (2017)
• Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) (2016)
• American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) (2012)
• Society for Developmental BIology (SDB) (2010)