For the first time, BoneUP crosses the Atlantic.

David Armstrong and Richie Abel recorded brand new interviews at ASBMR 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. In this first episode the lads chatted to three guests.

Christopher Hernandez is Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering at the University of California, San Francisco. He explains how the gut microbiome influences the material properties of bone matrix in mice.

Dr Marie-Eva Pickering is a consultant in rheumatology at the University Hospital Clermont-Ferrand. She discusses how pain is phenotyped in fibrous dysplasia.

Melissa Cuevas is a PhD student at CU Anschutz. She presents her work on the genetics of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Join us for more interviews from the conference in the next part.

The lads sit down together and Richie interviews David about a career in osteoporosis care. David describes his move from lupus research to setting up the Fracture Liaison Service at the Western Trust in 2008. He explains how the service works and why advice to GPs, pharmacists and other specialists takes up much of a bone specialist's week. He also discusses the very high risk category in the National Osteoporosis Guideline Group guidance. David explains why romosozumab would be his first choice for these patients and why teriparatide is less convincing at the hip.

Prof David Armstrong is a Consultant Rheumatologist at the Western Trust in Londonderry and Visiting Professor at the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health at Ulster University. He built the Trust's Fracture Liaison Service in 2008 and still runs it. He is also a member of the National Osteoporosis Guideline Group.

The lads jetted off to sunny Girona for the European Calcified Tissue Society Congress, where they caught up with some brilliant boneheads about the latest in bone research.

In Part 2, we chat to Stuart Ralston about the TOPAZ trial for Brittle Bone Disease, Emma Duncan about the ASBMR and ECTS Societies and Kass Javaid about his conference highlights.