Mineral Metabolism Research Unit
Unit
Director: Prof. John M Pettifor
E-mail: john.pettifor@wits.ac.za
The Mineral Metabolism
Research Unit was established in 1985 as a jointly funded initiative between
the University of the Witwatersrand and the MRC.
Originally known as the
Paediatric Mineral Metabolism Research Unit, it changed its name in 1988 to
reflect the scope of the Unit's activities more appropriately, and to acknowledge
that many of the factors which influence bone metabolism in adult life, started during childhood and adolescence.
The
broad objectives of the Unit are:
- to research paediatric and adult metabolic bone diseases of particular relevance to South Africa;
- and to investigate the
basic pathophysiological mechanisms of various aspects of bone and mineral
homeostasis.
The Unit is currently particularly interested in the factors influencing bone mass development and fractures during childhood and adolescence and is studying this by following annually a cohort of children, who are part of the Birth to Twenty longitudinal study. Furthermore, the Unit is involved in studies investigating the role of low dietary calcium intakes in altering bone and mineral metabolism in children and the interactions between dietary calcium and vitamin D status.
The Unit is situated in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg and comprises research laboratories, a seminar room, staff and secretarial offices and an 8-bed clinical research ward, staffed by nurses employed by the Gauteng Department of Health. The Unit has two Dual Energy X-ray Densitometry machines and a pQCT machine to measure bone mass, housed in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Medical School and in the Unit’s facilities at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. |
