Massimo BottiniJosé Luis Millán is Professor in the Human Genetics Program at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, in La Jolla, California. His studies for the last 40+ years, published in more than 280 peer-reviewed articles, have focussed on unerstanding the role of phosphatases in the initiation of skeletal and dental mineralization. He contributed most of the pre-clinical data to validate enzyme replacement therapy with mineral-targeted alkaline phosphatase (asfotase alfa) for the treatment of hypophosphatasia (HPP). This biologic, under the name 'Strensiq', was approved for paediatric-onset HPP in 2015. He has also developed a small molecule inhibitor that shows efficacy in preventing vascular calcification in animal models of ectopic calcification. Since the pathophysiology of HPP as well as vascular calcification involve matrix vesicles (MVs), his work currently focusses on understanding the biogenesis and function of this type of extracellular vesicle in health and disease. Read More Read Less