Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) is a degenerative joint disease that arises after injury and affects millions worldwide. There are currently no disease-modifying treatments. PTOA is a complex, multi-tissue joint disease characterized by pain, cartilage degradation, synovial inflammation and fibrosis, and formation of ectopic bone growths called osteophytes. The inherent complexity of this disease is a barrier to developing effective treatments, as little is known about the intricate tissue crosstalk that underlies PTOA progression. Our long- term goal is to uncover and comprehensively characterize cellular and molecular mechanisms central to key pathological sequalae of PTOA: synovial fibrosis, inflammation, and osteophyte formation. We will focus on canonical Wnt/β-catenin (cWnt) signaling. cWnt overactivation has recently been implicated as a driving factor of arthritis. Our data show that the cWnt signaling agonist R-spondin 2 (Rspo2) is strongly induced in multiple joint tissues during PTOA, and that Rspo2 alone is sufficient to induce pathological features characteristic of PTOA. Using single-cell RNA-seq, we profiled synovium of mice with PTOA and found that Rspo2 is produced by synovial lining fibroblasts. We identified a novel population of pro-fibrotic cells that arise after injury and express Lgr cell surface receptors for Rspo2. We showed that synovial fibroblasts respond to Rspo2 by secreting cytokines that in turn activate pro-inflammatory macrophages (known to drive synovial pathology in PTOA). Single-cell profiling also revealed a novel subset of injury-induced, Lgr-expressing osteochondral progenitors in synovium, which we propose give rise to osteophytes. We hypothesize that Rspo2-driven cWnt signaling mediates pathological crosstalk between joint-resident cell types to potentiate PTOA. To test this, our aims in the K99 phase are to: 1) determine the role of Rspo2-driven cWnt signaling in the emergence and function of pro-fibrotic synovial cells during PTOA using transgenic reporter mice, multi-omic analyses, and in vitro differentiation assays, and 2) characterize crosstalk between cWnt-active synovial fibroblasts and pro- inflammatory macrophages, using knockout mice and crosstalk assays. To extend upon my molecular biology and immunology expertise, I will receive rigorous technical and conceptual training from my diverse mentorship committee during the K99 phase, and valuable career guidance. This expert training in bioinformatics; cWnt signaling; bone, cartilage, and synovial biology; and multi-modal imaging, will be crucial for carrying out my K99 aims and especially critical for successfully launching my independent career. These skills will be utilized in my R00 phase to: 3) determine how Rspo2/Lgr signaling promotes osteophyte formation in PTOA, using tissue-specific deletion and reporter mice, and in vitro differentiation assays. This work will significantly extend our understanding of cellular and molecular mechani...