Japanese television crew interviews Professor Sarah Dallas, an expert bone researcher

A five-person crew from a television network in Japan filmed a University of Missouri-Kansas City researcher as part of an eight-episode documentary on the human body.

The crew interviewed Sarah Dallas, Ph.D., the Lee M. and William Lefkowitz Endowed Professor at the UMKC School of Dentistry for its episode on bone. Dallas is a pioneer in the imaging of osteocytes, specialized cells embedded in the bone. Dallas is a key member on UMKC’s research team that is exploring osteocytes and how they degenerate as aging occurs.

The documentary will feature experts in their fields from around the world. It is scheduled to be aired in December on NHK, the Japanese public television equivalent of America’s PBS and Britain’s BBC.

“I’m deeply honored to be a part of this,” said Dallas, who grew up and studied in England, and has been with UMKC since 2001. “A huge part of the reason I’ve wanted to be a scientist since I was young was from watching similar programs on the BBC, specifically ‘The World About Us,’ a program about animal life. To have the opportunity to participate in such a documentary is incredibly exciting for our research group.”

The crew filmed footage in a UMKC School of Dentistry lab where Dallas works with LeAnn Tiede-Lewis, a research assistant professor at UMKC.