To investigate further, the team took collagen - the dominant protein found in bone - from the fossils, and compared this with collagen found in other fossils and modern animals.

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While it hasn't cured her symptoms, the treatment was a success at the cellular level, as her bone marrow now produces the collagen that she had been unable to make on her own.

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This is because scientists rely on the bone retaining significant amounts of the protein collagen to test.

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Researchers now believe that collagen, the structural protein that gives bone its flexibility, also plays an important part in osteoporosis.

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Being able to tweak the ratio of calcium to phosphate alters not only the strength of the NanOss, but also the rate at which it is absorbed and the ease with which it combines with collagen, a protein that is the other main ingredient of bone.

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