Professor
Head, Arthritis Research
Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA

Dr. Martin Lotz is Professor in the Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine at The Scripps Research Institutes and in the Department of Medicine at UCSD. He received his MD degree from University of Heidelberg in 1981 where he trained in internal medicine. In 1983 he moved to San Diego for a research fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute and a rheumatology fellowship at UCSD.

Research interests in the Lotz laboratory are joint biology and mechanisms of arthritis pathogenesis. Dr. Lotz has directed an NIH-funded program on joint aging and osteoarthritis since 1989. Studies on the role of cell death in cartilage led to a project to develop caspase inhibitors for the treatment of post-traumatic arthritis. Recent work from his laboratory identified adult stem cells in cartilage and mechanisms of cartilage superficial zone maintenance and degradation. Current projects investigate mechanisms of joint aging and interactions among the various joint tissues in arthritis pathogenesis. Dr. Lotz was supported by an ANRF grant in 1988.