CIMA Centre Brochure

The Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing


www.cimauk.org

Photograph by Lindsay Mackenzie (2nd Runner Up - Newcastle University Student Competition)

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Introduction


Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and age-related decline in function of musculoskeletal tissues (bones, joints, tendons and muscles) are major contributors to loss of independence and poor quality of life in older people. The Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing (CIMA) is a collaboration between researchers and clinicians at the Universities of Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield that brings together complementary and outstanding expertise in skeletal muscle, bone, cartilage and tendon biology, ageing research, nutrition and exercise interventions and clinical excellence in musculoskeletal disorders. The Centre is developing an integrated approach to understanding the processes and effects of ageing in tissues of the musculoskeletal system, how ageing contributes to diseases of the musculoskeletal system and how these processes may be ameliorated or prevented.

This Centre of Excellence brings together researchers from 3 leading UK Universities to build on current world-leading research to understand why our bones, joints and muscles function less well as we age and why older people develop clinical diseases of these musculoskeletal tissues, such as arthritis or osteoporosis. The Centre is investigating new ways of preventing the deterioration of the musculoskeletal tissues that occur as we age to help preserve mobility and independence in older people. CIMA was funded by an initial grant of £2.5M from the Medical Research Council and Arthritis Research UK commencing June 2012 together with substantial investment in new posts by the Universities of Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield.

The detailed Objectives of CIMA are to:

•Develop and exploit an integrated research framework for ageing of the musculoskeletal system.

•Identify how intrinsic mechanisms of ageing contribute to musculoskeletal dysfunction and understand the impact of musculoskeletal ageing on age-related wellbeing.

•Identify and share optimal techniques and approaches (e.g. imaging, biomarkers and functional measures) to monitor age-related changes in all musculoskeletal tissues and provide an integrated assessment of musculoskeletal function (e.g. using systems biology and modelling approaches).

•Develop and test novel interventions based on nutrition, exercise and/or pharmacology to maintain or enhance bone, cartilage, ligament/tendon and muscle function during ageing and to reduce age-related deterioration of the whole musculoskeletal system.

•Build capacity by training young researchers and clinicians with multidisciplinary skills in musculoskeletal ageing.

•Become the foremost UK Centre for research on musculoskeletal ageing and develop a major international reputation for research in this important area.

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Introduction 1

Resources and Facilities 4

Directors and Site DirectorsProf. Malcolm J Jackson (Director) 12

Prof. Tim Cawston (Newcastle Site Director) 13

Prof. Eugene McCloskey (Sheffield Site Director) 14

Principal InvestigatorsDr Ilaria Bellantuono 15

Prof. Peter Clegg 16

Prof. Richard Eastell 17

Dr Graham Kemp 18

Prof. Tom Kirkwood 19

Prof. John Loughlin 20

Prof. Anne McArdle 21

Prof. John Mathers 22

Prof. Gerry Wilson 23

InvestigatorsDr Rebecca Bancroft 24

Dr Karl Bates 25

Dr Fraser Birrell 26

Dr Anne-Gaëlle Borycki 27

Prof. David J Burn 28

Dr Nadine Carroll 29

Prof. Robin Huw Crompton 30

Dr Daniel Cuthbertson 31

Dr Rachel Duncan 32

Prof. Francesco Falciani 33

Prof. Alejandro F. Frangi 34

Prof. Jim Gallagher 35

Dr Alison Gartland 36

Prof. Douglas Gray 37

Prof. Richard D Griffiths 38

Prof. John Hunt 39

Prof. John Innes 40

Prof. Carol Jagger 41

Dr Jonathan Jarvis 42

Dr Nathan Jeffery 43

Dr Elizabeth Laird 44

Prof. Sue Mawson 45

Contents


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Dr Jennifer Milner 46

Dr Peter Milner 47

Prof. Robert J Moots 48

Dr Munitta Muthana 49

Prof. Jon Nicholl 50

Prof. Stuart Parker 51

Dr Joao Passos 52

Prof. Hilary J Powers 53

Dr Carole Proctor 54

Dr Louise Reynard 55

Prof. Lynn Rochester 56

Prof. Drew Rowan 57

Prof. Graham Russell 58

Prof. Tim Skerry 59

Dr Falko F Sniehotta 60

Dr Simon Tew 61

Prof. Wendy Tindale 62

Dr Michael Trenell 63

Prof. Doug Turnbull 64

Dr Aphrodite Vasilaki 65

Marco Viceconti 66

Prof. John Wilding 67

Mr Mark Wilkinson 68

Dr Liz Williams 69

Prof. Steve Winder 70

Dr Lang Yang 71

Dr David A Young 72

Prof. Thomas von Zglinicki 73

Contact details 74

Photograph above by Gobinath Murugesapillai (Winner - Newcastle University Student Competition)

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Resources and Facilities The creation of CIMA facilitates the bringing together of three Institutes each with world class research infrastructure, facilities and resources for research into ageing and the musculoskeletal system. Individually, each Institute has excellent facilities for basic science research, pre-clinical and clinical research, but together we benefit from shared access to high-end technology and expertise, access to model systems that cover the musculoskeletal system as a whole and clinical expertise and resources not available in any single institute.

Many of our existing University Institutes, Centres and Laboratories are highly regarded and recognised internationally for their contribution to ageing and musculoskeletal research. For example, both Newcastle and Sheffield have recently been awarded European League Against Rheumatism Centre of Excellence status in recognition of their contribution to the field. However, together CIMA is increasing this profile further by focusing our research effort into addressing fundamental questions in musculoskeletal ageing.

Examples of the some of the facilities and resources that are available to members of CIMA through the partner institutes include:


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The Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre (MARIARC)The Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre (MARIARC) is a core facility of the University of Liverpool, directed by Dr Graham Kemp (CIMA co-applicant). MARIARC has a Siemens Symphony 1.5 T and a Trio 3 T scanner, which support MR-based whole-body composition and muscle cross-sectional area analysis, 1H MRS (magnetic resonance spectroscopy) measurements of muscle cellular triglyceride, 31P MRS studies of muscle bioenergetics and near-infrared spectroscopy measurements of muscle oxygenation. The Trio is also used for functional MRI (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging and perfusion imaging, which can be applied to muscle, cartilage and tendon studies.

The University of Liverpool Biomechanics Group FacilityThe University of Liverpool Biomechanics Group Facility supports full body dynamic modelling and finite element analysis of musculoskeletal mechanics and foot-ground interactions. It has state of the art facilities for gait analysis including static and treadmill-based point force and pressure measurement, integrated with free-ranging gas-exchange measurement of energy consumption, high speed 3D motion capture and videography, wireless electromyography, and remote activity monitoring from combined self-contained multiple accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope and GPS transducer signals. Imaging facilities include microCT, ultrasound and laser scanning, and group engineers have developed software for whole body dynamic simulation, topographic analysis of pressure/depth distributions over complex landmark-free surfaces.

Campus for Ageing and VitalityNewcastle University has invested heavily in world class infrastructure to support its ageing research agenda. The Campus for Ageing and Vitality consists of a new quadrangle of buildings for intensively translational biomedical research into age-related disease. The Wellcome Trust funded Biogerontology Building housing basic research alongside the Edwardson Building containing biomarker laboratories and the aged mouse facility. Experimental Medicine platforms for 3TMRI, PET, gait and exercise laboratories and bio-banking facilities are housed in adjacent buildings. A new NIHR-funded, translational research building (opening Nov 2011) will act as the hub for the Biomedical Research Centre and the ground floor of this building will host innovative purpose-designed multi-disciplinary translational research clinics. The Campus houses the recent RC funded Centre for Integrated Systems Biology of Ageing and Nutrition, the MRC Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality and the Livewell Programme (Lifelong Health and Wellbeing).

The University of Liverpool MRC/NERC Centre for Genomic Research (CGR)The University of Liverpool MRC/NERC Centre for Genomic Research (CGR) is part of the National Research Infrastructure. In addition, the Centre has a large portfolio of specific project grants from the BBSRC, NERC, MRC, NHIR and other funding agencies, and has strong TSB funding with several multinational companies. The CGR employs 16 mainly post-doctoral members of staff. It runs three next generation sequencing platforms, LifeTechnologies’ SOLiD, Illuminas GA2 and Roche’s 454 GS FLX platform augmented by robotic preparative pipelines. A new Ion Torrent instrument is under trial. It also has 3 computer clusters and 200Tb of storage, managed by a postdoctoral infrastructure specialist.


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MRC Muscle Performance and Exercise Training LaboratoryThis facility, based at Newcastle University combines state of the art measurement equipment for physical fitness, cardiac function, muscle strength and body composition alongside a physical activity and exercise intervention delivery team.

The laboratory has three main focuses:

1. Assessment of physical function with maximal exercise, sub-maximal exercise and muscle strength testing.

2. Assessment of everyday physical activity.

3. Delivery of standardised physical activity and exercise interventions.

Current studies are funded by the MRC, NIHR, NHS and pharmaceutical industry. These groups use the laboratory to provide clinical grade outcome measures for interventions and assessment of habitual physical activity. All staff are fully accredited by the American College of Sports Medicine.

National Centre for Sport, Physical Activity & Wellbeing (NCESEM)As part of the London 2012 Olympic legacy Sheffield has been selected as one of three partners in the NCESEM (the others are Nottingham/Loughborough and UCH/UCL London). Sheffield will receive £10m in funding from the Department of Health to develop the Centre and establish the physical infrastructure. Sheffield will be responsible for implementing strategies of using physical activity to improve population health. A state-of-the-art facility for research in sport and exercise medicine will be built that will be used for physiological and biomechanical studies in the Sheffield population.

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The University of Sheffield Mellanby Centre for Bone ResearchBased in the University of Sheffield Medical School the Mellanby Centre was established in 2009 in recognition of our international standing in bone research. The Centre has created a multidisciplinary environment in which to foster world-class research. We are one of a limited number of institutes worldwide in which clinical research is underpinned by world-class basic biomedical research and where our research spans understanding normal skeletal physiology, the age-related decline in skeletal function and in pathological bone loss. The Mellanby Centre is home to dedicated ‘core’ facilities that support the research of the Centre. These include ‘state of the art’ bone biochemistry laboratory with the latest autoanalysers and a bone analsysis laboratory with contemporary imaging equipment, including high-resolution microCT, in vivo dynamic histomorphometry and multi-photon imaging. Staffed by core-funded scientists these facilities underpin collaborations with partners from across the UK and Europe, including Universities, research institutes and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The Mellanby Centre links directly with the biomedical research unit for bone in which basic and pre-clinical research developed in the Centre is translated directly into clinical studies for patient benefit.

Newcastle Biomedicine Clinical Ageing Research Unit (CARU)The primary aim of CARU is to facilitate the development of early assessment and intervention strategies targeted at age associated degenerative conditions. The facility was funded by the Wellcome Trust and supported by core NIHR funding.

The facility is directed by David Burn and provides high quality, patient friendly environment for Phase II-IV clinical studies in the older patient. Translational research and clinical trial capacity is facilitated via integration with the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (Ageing) where musculoskeletal is one of the themes.

CARU is staffed by a team of experienced and well-qualified research nurses and research professionals and is equipped with consulting and assessment rooms, a human movement laboratory, visual perception laboratory and a DEXA scanner for bone density measurements.

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The University of Sheffield Bone Biomedical Research UnitEstablished with NIHR infrastructure funding, the Bone Biomedical Research Unit (BRU) is a partnership between the University of Sheffield and the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The Unit is based in the Centre for Biomedical Research alongside a dedicated Clinical Research Facility. The Bone BRU Faculty comprises experienced clinical investigators who work closely with basic scientists at the Mellanby Centre, and statisticians, health economists and epidemiologists from the School of Health and Related Research, to promote world-class translational research. The facilities include a bone-imaging suite, housing a high-resolution peripheral CT scanner (XtremeCT) amongst other non-invasive bone assessments, a Bone Biochemistry Laboratory and the Sheffield Musculoskeletal BioBank.

The University of Liverpool Proteomics LaboratoryThe University of Liverpool Proteomics Laboratory provides access to state-of-the-art capacity in proteomics, as well as a home for the Protein Function Group (Prof Rob Beynon). The laboratory is a custom user-designed space that meets all of the needs for the support and management of the key technology in proteomics: mass spectrometry. By creating a visually connected and highly accessible instrument space, the laboratory maintains the connection between the benchtop science and the end-stage analytical handling of the samples. A hotel model is used where guests’ laboratory work can be completed near the instruments.

Musculoskeletal Research GroupThe Newcastle Musculoskeletal Research Group (MRG) consists of 75 total research staff that aim to foster strong interactions between clinicians and laboratory scientists. It houses the Wilson Horne Immunotherapy Centre, a translational research facility for early phase clinical studies of immune modulators and linked experimental medicine studies.

The expertise of individual members of the group ranges from gene regulation through to nanotechnology, and the design and implementation of novel immunomodulators. We have strong research collaborations locally and nationally and represent a strong theme of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Ageing and Age-Related Disease. It hosts the Arthritis Research-UK Tissue Engineering Centre awarded in 2010.

The Newcastle MRG forms one of 9 centres in the Office of Life Sciences Research Capability Cluster. This is a novel strategy to fast track novel compounds into phase I/IIa trials. The MRG education group also have a strong influence nationally, producing CDs to teach clinical examination skills, which are distributed to all medical schools in the UK and, increasingly, overseas.


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MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical GeneticsThe MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics (CDBG), based at The University of Sheffield brings together developmental geneticists with clinician scientists, creating a focus of expertise in the development of animal models of human disease with the aim of stimulating the translation of findings from model systems to the development of novel therapies and clinical practice.

Gene discovery programmes using both forward mutation screening and gene expression profiling are being combined with chemical genetic approaches to identify novel components of developmental pathways and networks and unravel their mechanisms of action. The CDBG research strategy is supported by a number of high throughput facilities, including the Sheffield RNAi Screening Facility which is unique in Europe, extensive zebrafish aquaria and the CDBG Screening Unit equipped for medium-throughput screening of small molecules in zebrafish. A particular area of strength within CDBG is musculoskeletal development and disease.

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Prof. Malcolm J Jackson, BSc, PhD, DSc, FRCPathProfessor of Cellular Pathophysiology, Head of Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of [email protected] the roles of reactive oxygen species in skeletal muscle physiology, pathology and ageing

Professor Jackson graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Surrey in 1974, completed a PhD at University College London in 1980, was awarded a DSc in 1994 and FRCPath in 1997. He was a Lecturer at University College London in 1982, Senior Lecturer at Liverpool University in 1984 and appointed Professor in 1994. He has served as Head of the Department of Medicine (1997-2001), Deputy Dean (2000-2001), Interim Dean of the Faculty of Medicine (2001-2002) and Associate Dean for Research (2005-2009).

He was appointed Head of the Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease in 2010. Malcolm serves on the MRC Population and Systems Medicine Board and Interdisciplinary Expert Group on ME/CFS, the BBSRC Healthy Organism Strategy Panel and Ageing Working Group and the Joint Research Councils Life Long Health and Wellbeing Panel. He was Deputy Chair of the Research into Ageing National Scientific

Advisory Committee (2003-2006) and is current President of the Society for Free Radical Research-International.

Malcolm’s primary research interests are in the roles of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cell signaling and degeneration, particularly relating to ageing and skeletal muscle. His group made some of the earliest descriptions of free radical generation by contracting skeletal muscle and of the effects of antioxidants. He has characterised the role of ROS as mediators of muscle damage following lengthening contractions and was among the first to recognise the physiological roles of ROS as mediators of adaptive responses to stress, specifically relating to skeletal muscle. His group has also contributed new analytical approaches to studying ROS in muscle in cell culture models and in vivo allowing them to characterise the multiple pathways for ROS generation in skeletal muscle. He has also identified protein targets for oxidation in ageing skeletal muscle. More recent work has sought to understand the role of ROS in normal muscle physiology and ageing with translation of the work through human biopsy and intervention studies.

Professor Jackson’s research is funded by the MRC, BBSRC, the US National Institute on Ageing and the Wellcome Trust.


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Prof. Tim Cawston, BSc, PhD, FRCP(Hon)William Leech Professor of Rheumatology, Musculoskeletal Research Group, Institutes of Cellular Medicine/Ageing and Health, Newcastle [email protected] how age-related changes in connective tissue lead to tissue turnover

Tim Cawston graduated with a BSc from Leeds University and completed a PhD at Reading on secretory mechanisms in the mammary gland. Prof Cawston undertook post doctoral training at the Strangeways Research Laboratory, Cambridge where he developed his interest in the proteolytic breakdown of connective tissue components, particularly collagen. He moved to the Department of Rheumatology, Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge to set up his own laboratory in 1981. He was appointed as Professor of Rheumatology at Newcastle University in 1996 where he has established the Musculoskeletal Research group that undertakes research from basic mechanisms in immunology and matrix biology, experimental medicine and educational research. Professor Cawston is a member of the MRC PSMB board and Vice Chair of Arthritis Research-UK programme grant committee.

Tim’s main research interest is in understanding the mechanisms that initiate and perpetuate the breakdown of collagen in health and disease using cellular and molecular techniques. His research has shown that combinations of mediators can dramatically increase the production of degradative enzymes. These studies have developed to look

at the ways in which this breakdown can be blocked using a variety of pharmacological compounds. The aim of this work is to find ways in which we can prevent the harmful breakdown of cartilage and bone in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

His work has developed recently to investigate the mechanisms of collagen breakdown in osteoarthritis particularly to investigate how the cartilage matrix, and the chondrocytes localised within it, change with age and how these changes may perpetuate cartilage damage.

Professor Cawston’s research is funded by Arthritis Research-UK, The Nuffield Foundation and Action Medical Research.

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Prof. Eugene McCloskey, MB, BCh, BAO, MD, FRCPIProfessor of Adult Bone Diseases, University of [email protected] risk factors for skeletal fragility and developing new approaches of combination therapies with exercise and pharmaceutical interventions

Professor McCloskey graduated in Medicine from Trinity College, Dublin in 1983. Having initially trained in endocrinology, he developed an interest in the mechanisms of malignant bone disease and has been involved in several clinical trials of bisphosphonates in multiple myeloma and breast cancer that have established the role of antiosteoclastic therapy in malignant disease. He subsequently trained in rheumatology before deciding to focus exclusively on metabolic bone diseases. Currently, Professor in Adult Bone Diseases in the Academic Unit of Bone Metabolism, he is also an Honorary Consultant Physician in metabolic bone disease at the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews and is currently Secretary of the Bone Research Society, Chair of the ASBMR Ancillary Program Committee and Chair of the National Osteoporosis Guideline Group Implementation Committee as well as a member of the ARUK Research sub-committee, the National Specialty Group for Musculoskeletal Diseases, the International Osteoporosis Foundation’s Committee of Scientific Advisors and the Board of the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis.

Eugene has been principal investigator in a large number of MRC and pharmaceutical-funded osteoporosis studies and is acknowledged as an expert in vertebral fracture definition and epidemiology, as well as non-invasive assessments of bone strength and fracture

risk. He has been involved with writing guidelines (for the Royal College of Physicians, the British Association of Surgical Oncologists and the Bone Research Society) and Health Technology Assessments. More recently, he has contributed to the development of the FRAX tool for estimating fracture risk. He has important collaborations with national and international research groups such as King’s College (London), Erasmus Medical Centre (Rotterdam), Harvard Medical School (Boston) and the University of Queensland (Brisbane). The main foci of Eugene’s current research include risk factor models for osteoporosis and the potential interactions between physical and pharmacological therapies to improve musculoskeletal health.


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Dr Ilaria Bellantuono, MD, PhDSenior Lecturer in Bone Biology, Department of Human Metabolism, University of [email protected] mesenchymal stem cell ageing

Dr Bellantuono graduated in 1992 with an MD degree from the University of Pavia, Italy and completed a PhD in the department of Experimental Haematology, Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, University of Manchester in 1998. She undertook post-doctoral training in the Department of Immunology, Imperial College. In 2001, Dr Bellantuono relocated to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital as a team leader and was awarded an honorary lectureship in stem cell biology at the University of Manchester in 2002. Ilaria was appointed as a Lecturer in Bone Biology at the University of Sheffield in 2005 and is currently Senior Lecturer.

Ilaria’s main research is in determining the changes mesenchymal stem cells undergo with age, identifying what are the molecular players involved and how these impact on bone formation. An understanding of the pathways involved in stem cell ageing will lead to more targeted therapeutic strategies to promote healthier bone ageing.

Ilaria has identified loss of proliferation and differentiation ability in mesenchymal stem cells with age. This was associated with shortening of telomeres in vitro and in vivo.

She is now determining the pathways involved, including the Notch/Wnt signalling pathway, using a combination of in vitro and in vivo models. She is also using small molecules to both understand basic mechanisms regulating stem cell fate and to target specific pathways to delay ageing.

Ilaria is also leading the innovative Shared Ageing Research Models (ShARM) resource funded by Wellcome Trust to support the rapidly growing volume of research on biology of ageing using mouse models. It combines web-based information systems with a physical tissue bank. This is a collaboration with members of the Centre for Integrated Systems Biology of Ageing and Nutrition in Newcastle, the International Centre for Mouse Genetics, MRC Harwell the members of the Institute for Ageing and Chronic Diseases in Liverpool, the Faculty of Life Sciences in Manchester and The European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing in Groeningen.

Ilaria’s research is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Leukaemia Research Fund, Wellcome Trust and AstraZeneca.

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Prof. Peter Clegg, MA Vet MB PhD DipECVS MRCVSProfessor of Comparative Orthopaedics, Dept. of Musculoskeletal Biology, University of Liverpool. Deputy Head of Institute, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of [email protected] the control of matrix turnover in cartilage and tendons in healthy ageing, regeneration and disease

Professor Clegg graduated in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Cambridge in 1987. After working as a veterinary surgeon in practice, he undertook a three-year period of post-graduate clinical training in equine orthopaedics at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London. He then moved to the University of Liverpool on a research training scholarship and was awarded a PhD in 1997 for studies investigating proteinases in cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis (OA). Subsequently, Peter was appointed Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer in veterinary orthopaedics and combined clinical and research duties. In 2003, he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Leave Fellowship, which he undertook in Professor Tim Hardingham’s laboratory in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research at the University of Manchester investigating chondrocyte phenotype variation in both OA and cartilage regeneration. In 2006 he was appointed to a personal chair in comparative orthopaedics at the University of Liverpool. His research is in human and veterinary musculoskeletal biology, in particular cell and matrix regulation of cartilage and tendon during healthy ageing, regeneration and disease.

Peter’s principle research interest is in understanding how chondrocyte and tenocyte cell phenotype varies, and how this is regulated during physiological and pathological states.

There is an emphasis on relating both cartilage matrix degradation through proteinase activities, and cartilage matrix regeneration by the action of the chondrogenic transcription factor SOX9. This has led to a strong interest in post-transcriptional gene regulation, and the mechanisms of how this is controlled, in musculoskeletal tissues. He has had long-term interest in understanding the differences between healthy ageing and pathology, and developing proteomics approaches to quantify matrix turnover to distinguish variations between healthy ageing and OA in cartilage. Finally, he has a strong interest in the role of the osteochondral junction in the development of articular pathology. In tendon, he has developed interests in understanding tenocyte phenotypic variation, and how this can be manipulated. He has a strong interest in determining how tendon ages, and in particular how tendons with different mechanical functions and injury risk, age. Currently he is determining mechanisms of age-related tendon failure.

Professor Clegg’s research is funded by Arthritis Research UK, the Wellcome Trust, Horserace Betting Levy Board, BBSRC and the pharmaceutical industry.


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Prof. Richard Eastell, MD, FRCP, FRCPath, FmedSciProfessor of Bone Metabolism, University of Sheffield; NIHR Senior Investigator; Director, NIHR Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research [email protected] the causes of bone diseases and improving their treatment

Professor Eastell graduated in Medicine from Edinburgh University in 1977 and trained as an endocrinologist in Edinburgh, London (Northwick Park Hospital) and the USA (Mayo Clinic) before coming to work in Sheffield in 1989. Currently the head of the Academic Unit of Bone Metabolism, he was awarded funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in April 2008 to set up the Sheffield Biomedical Research Unit (BRU) in Bone Diseases and has since been appointed as an NIHR Senior Investigator. Professor Eastell is also an Honorary Consultant Physician in metabolic bone disease at the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield.

Richard has received several awards; these include Hospital Doctor of the Year in the osteoporosis category (1997), the Corrigan Medal of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (1998), the Kohn Foundation award from the National Osteoporosis Society (2004) and the Society of Endocrinology Medal (2004). He has authored or co-authored over 200 papers on osteoporosis and related topics and is also Associate Editor for the journal Bone and a member of the editorial board of Osteoporosis International. Richard is Past President of the European Calcified Tissue Society and Bone Research Society and Past Chairman of the National Osteoporosis Society.

Well known for his work on biochemical markers of bone turnover and the definition of osteoporotic vertebral fractures, Richard’s research interests are also wide ranging. He leads an active group that conducts research into all aspects of osteoporosis, funded by the NIHR, MRC and AR UK and in collaboration with important international research groups, such as the Universities of Kiel (Germany) and California, San Francisco (USA) and the Mayo Clinic (USA). The main foci of Richard’s current research include anabolic treatments for osteoporosis, novel tests for bone turnover markers and biomechanics of hip and spine fracture.

Vertebral fracture in the lumbar spine resulting from osteoporosis.

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Dr Graham Kemp, MA DM FRCPath CSci FSBReader (Clinical) and Director, Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre (MARIARC), University of [email protected] a quantitative understanding of muscle metabolism and function in vivo

Dr Kemp graduated in medicine from Merton College, University of Oxford in 1980. After training in pathology in Leicester and Sheffield he began his research career in 1984 working on cellular phosphate transport at the Department of Human Metabolism and Clinical Biochemistry, University of Sheffield. Since then he has pursued human research in vivo by mainly magnetic resonance techniques, starting in 1989 at the MRC Biochemical & Clinical Magnetic Resonance Unit and Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, and continuing from 1996 at the University of Liverpool, where he is Reader at the Department of Musculoskeletal Biology in the Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, and Director of the Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre, a core research facility. He holds honorary NHS consultant posts in Chemical Pathology and Neuromuscular Science. Dr Kemp is also Director of Postgraduate Research for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, the largest of the three faculties of the University.

Dr Kemp’s principal research interest is in the quantitative interpretation of data acquired noninvasively in vivo, particularly by magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging

methods, supported by modelling approaches and techniques such as near-infrared spectroscopy and electromyography. He has a number of research collaborations within the UK (notably Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds) and with important international groups (including Eindhoven, Marseille, Nijmegen, Sydney, Vienna). He has authored or co-authored over 180 papers, mainly on muscle and neuromuscular function and pathophysiology and aspects of metabolic regulation, but also including brain structure and function, endocrine, hepatic and renal disease, and accident mechanisms. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Clinical Science and the Editorial Advisory Board of the Biochemical Journal, and a regular reviewer for physiology, biochemistry, biophysics, sports science, magnetic resonance and clinical research journals.

Dr Kemp’s research is supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation and the pharmaceutical industry.


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Prof. Tom Kirkwood, CBE, PhD, FMedSciProfessor of Medicine, Newcastle University; Associate Dean for Ageing (from Oct 2011); Scientific Director, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre on Ageing and Age-Related [email protected], genetics and evolution of intrinsic ageing and its contribution to age-related frailty and disease

Tom Kirkwood is Professor of Medicine (1999 -), Director of the Institute for Ageing and Health (2004 – 2011), and Scientific Director of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre on Ageing (2008 -) at Newcastle University. In October 2011 he will take up a new position as Associate Dean for Ageing in order to provide strategic leadership for the University’s over-arching priority theme on ageing. Educated in biology and mathematics at Cambridge and Oxford, he worked at the National Institute for Medical Research, where he formed and led a new research division, until in 1993 he became the UK’s first Professor of Biological Gerontology at the University of Manchester.

Tom Kirkwood’s research aims to understand the basic science of ageing including how genes as well as non-genetic factors, such as nutrition, influence longevity and health in old age. He led the first studies to demonstrate how intrinsic ageing affects the functions of tissue stem cells, pioneered the development of systems-biology approaches to ageing (including forming in 2005 the BBSRC-funded Centre for Integrative Systems Biology of Ageing and Nutrition), and has studied population aspects of ageing including evolutionary and epidemiological research

aimed at linking underlying mechanisms to the impacts of ageing at the population level. He is Principal Investigator for the MRC-funded Newcastle 85+ Study, a prospective cohort study of biological clinical and psychosocial factors underlying healthy ageing in a cohort of more than 1000 participants born in 1921. He has been European President (Biology) of the International Association of Gerontology, chaired the UK Foresight Task Force on ‘Healthcare and Older People’, led the Foresight project on ‘Mental Capital Through Life’, was Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Science & Technology Select Committee inquiry into ‘scientific aspects of ageing’ and has served on the Councils of BBSRC and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is an Editor of Mechanisms of Ageing and Development and serves on the editorial boards of eight other journals. He has published more than 300 scientific papers and won several international prizes for his research. His books include the award-winning ‘Time of Our Lives: The Science of Human Ageing’, ‘Chance, Development and Ageing’ (with Caleb Finch) and ‘The End of Age’ based on his BBC Reith Lectures in 2001.

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Prof. John Loughlin, BSc, PhDProfessor of Musculoskeletal Research, Newcastle [email protected] of osteoarthritis

Professor Loughlin completed his PhD in developmental biology at Leeds University in 1991 and then commenced postdoctoral research on the molecular genetic basis of monogenic diseases of the extracellular matrix at Oxford University, under the supervision of Professor Bryan Sykes. In 1995 Professor Loughlin established a group at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, where his focus became, and remains, the molecular genetics of osteoarthritis (OA). In 1997 he was awarded a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Arthritis Research Campaign and in 2002 he became a University Lecturer at Oxford University. In 2008 Professor Loughlin moved to Newcastle University as chair of Musculoskeletal Research within the Institute of Cellular Medicine.

For the past three years John has been the Principal Investigator for arcOGEN, a consortium that was directed toward the association mapping of osteoarthritis (OA) susceptibility loci in 7,400 OA cases and over 11,000 population controls. This involved nine UK centres and was funded by Arthritis Research UK, with a grant of £2.2 million. arcOGEN has so far identified nine novel OA loci. One of John’s

research goals is to functionally characterize these signals, with the aim of exploiting this information for improved patient diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.

John has presented his group’s research as an invited speaker at international meetings in Europe, North America and Asia, including at three Gordon Research Conferences. John sits on a number of advisory committees, including the Arthritis Research UK Fellowship Implementation Committee, and is the Secretary General of OARSI, the international Osteoarthritis Research Society.

John’s research group has expertise in a wide range of genetic, genomic and functional techniques and I have published peer-reviewed papers in a number of leading journals including Nature Genetics, PNAS, BMJ, American Journal of Human Genetics, Human Molecular Genetics, Journal of Biological Chemistry and Arthritis & Rheumatism.


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Prof. Anne McArdle, BSc, PhDHead of Department of Musculoskeletal Biology II, University of [email protected] the mechanisms of age-related loss of muscle mass and function and developing new approaches to treatment

Professor McArdle graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Liverpool in 1988 and completed a PhD in the Department of Medicine in 1993. Anne undertook postdoctoral training at the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Michigan and was awarded a Research into Ageing Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Fellowship in 1998 to examine the mechanisms by which the age-related failure of muscle to adapt to contractions resulted in sarcopenia. Anne was appointed as Lecturer at the University of Liverpool in 2001 and as Professor in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Liverpool in 2007. She is currently acting Head of the Department of Musculoskeletal Biology II. Anne is past Chair of the British Society for Research on Ageing and the British Council for Ageing. She is an active member of the American Physiological Society and the UK Physiological Society and Biochemical Society. Professor McArdle is Associate Editor for the American Journal of Physiology, International Advisor on the Environmental & Exercise Physiology Committee of the American Physiological Society and a core member of BBSRC Grant Committee A. Professor McArdle’s work on frailty has received considerable public interest with press

releases and presentation of our applied work to the general public at several events. As School Director of Postgraduate Research, Anne led a complete overhaul of student monitoring and support procedures within the School which has led to substantial improvements in the student experience.

Professor McArdle’s research interests include the basic processes by which cells respond and adapt to stress and damage and in particular, the role that the age-related failure in the stress response plays in the development of age-related skeletal muscle dysfunction and has made key observations in this area of research. Her research group has demonstrated the importance of rapid induction of responses to the increased ROS generated by contractions in maintaining muscle viability and the role that attenuation of these ROS signals and responses play in muscle ageing. Anne has considerable experience of cell and molecular biological studies at the sub-cellular level through to physiological analysis of muscle function in a number of model systems including cell culture, animal models and in humans. This work is funded by the National Institutes of Health (USA), MRC, BBSRC and AgeUK.

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Prof. John Mathers, BSc, Dip Nutr, PhDProfessor of Human Nutrition, Newcastle University; Director of the Human Nutrition Research Centre, Institute for Ageing and [email protected] the impact of diet and other lifestyle factors on ageing and age-related diseases and the development of lifestyle-based interventions to enhance healthy ageing

Professor Mathers graduated with a BSc in Agricultural Biochemistry and Nutrition from Newcastle University in 1971. He was awarded a Diploma in Nutrition (with Distinction) from University of Cambridge in 1973 and PhD from University of Cambridge in 1979. Professor Mathers undertook post-doctoral training in the Department of Applied Biology in the University of Cambridge and in the Department of Tropical Animal Health, University of Edinburgh. In 1983 he was appointed as Lecturer in Human Nutrition in Newcastle University. In 1994, he established the Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University and was appointed Professor of Human Nutrition in Newcastle University in 1995.

John’s major research interests are in understanding the role of diet in the aetiology and prevention of common age-related diseases and in the modulation of the ageing process. This research includes studies from the molecular and cellular levels to large-scale human intervention trials. He has a particular interest in diet-gene interactions. His current work includes the LiveWell Programme which is developing and piloting lifestyle-based interventions to promote healthy ageing and developing tools to measure the healthy ageing phenotype. In addition,

he is using post-genomic technologies to i) develop and test biomarkers of bowel cancer risk which are modifiable by dietary factors, ii) investigate of the effect of nutrient supply in utero on health in later life with a particular focus on the role of epigenetic mechanisms and iii) develop novel biomarkers of dietary exposure using metabolomics approaches.

Professor Mathers’ research is funded by the MRC through the LifeLong Health and Wellbeing initiative, the BBSRC and the EU.


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Prof. Gerry Wilson, MB, PhD, FRCP, DCHProfessor of Rheumatology & Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist, University of Sheffield; Department of Infection & [email protected] in inflammatory arthritis and the role of epigenetics in immunoageing

Prof Wilson graduate in Medicine from Queen’s University Belfast in 1983 and trained as a rheumatologist in Edinburgh, Sheffield and Oxford. He was an ARUK clinical research fellow at the University of Sheffield (PhD 1995) and an ARUK Copeman Travelling Fellow at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University (1995-96). He is an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield. Professor Wilson is also Head of the Sheffield EULAR Centre of Excellence in Rheumatology.

His initial research interest centred on the genetics of the tumour necrosis factor gene in inflammatory joint diseases and determining genotype-phenotype correlations. More recently the focus has been on the identification of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic response biomarkers, mainly genetic and immunological, in rheumatoid arthritis. These studies have been underpinned by the accrual of large highly-characterised clinical research databases with linked biological material. He also investigates the role of epigenetics in rheumatoid arthritis and immunoageing.

Prof Wilson’s research is funded by ARUK, MRC and the pharmaceutical industry.

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Dr Rebecca Bancroft, MBBCh, MRCP, MScConsultant Geriatrician, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust; Consultant Community Geriatrician for Care Homes Liverpool Community Health NHS [email protected] high quality care homes

Dr Bancroft trained at the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff and graduated in 1998. Her passion for the care of older people began very early in her career whilst working for a brief period as a Senior House Officer in London. She became a trainee in Geriatric and General Medicine in the Mersey Deanery in 2004. She was appointed as a Consultant Geriatrician in Liverpool in 2009. During her Specialist registrar training Dr Bancroft undertook a Masters degree in Geriatric Medicine at Keele University. Her thesis for this explored the impact of bowel and bladder symptoms on quality of life for long-term stroke survivors. Now Dr Bancroft works as both a hospital based and community Geriatrician. In her community work Dr Bancroft provides specialist inreach expertise into Care Homes to support General Practice. Her particular areas of focus are on reducing falls in Care Homes and improving the identification of increasing frailty to predict end of life and ensure comfort during residents’ final months of life. She is an active member of the Relatives and Residents Association acting as an advocate for residents to ensure high quality care in Care Homes.


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Dr Karl Bates BSc, MPhil, PhDCIMA Research [email protected] and computational biomechanics

Dr Bates graduated with a BSc in Geology in 2005 from the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences at the University of Manchester, and subsequently completed an MPhil there in 2006. He obtained his PhD in computational biomechanics in the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester in 2010. Since then he has worked in a post-doctoral position in the lab or Professor Robin Crompton at the University of Liverpool, studying human foot function and evolution.

Karl’s research concentrates on the functional anatomy of terrestrial vertebrates, with particular focus on the locomotor system. His goal is to understand the links between hard and soft tissue morphology and limb biomechanics in order to better characterise how animals achieve their full range of habitual motions. Karl is particularly interested in the functional consequences of changing morphology and evaluating how elements of the locomotor system interact to facilitate or constrain the way animals stand and move. This has led him to study a range of living tetrapods from primates to archosaurs (birds and crocodilians) in order to further our understanding of major evolutionary transitions in locomotor

biomechanics. He routinely use a range of theoretical and experimental techniques to study locomotion, ranging from motion analysis, force and pressure platforms to 3D static and dynamic computer simulations. Under CIMA, he will be integrating experimental data sets (e.g. whole-body kinematics, foot plantar pressures) with 3D multi-body dynamic computer models to study the effects of age- and disease-related trends in morphology on the locomotor capabilities of humans and a range of domestic and zoo animals.

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Dr Fraser Birrell, MA, Dip Clin Ed, PhD, FRCPHonorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Consultant & Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology, Northumbria Healthcare; Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle [email protected] and Preventing Osteoarthritis Progression

Dr Birrell graduated in Medicine from Cambridge University in 1991 and trained as a Rheumatologist in the West Midlands (Cannock Chase, Royal Shrewsbury Hospitals) & Manchester (Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit, Manchester Royal Infirmary, South Manchester University Hospitals) before coming to work in Newcastle in 2002. His clinical and epidemiological research informs healthcare planning and provision: from projecting the need for hip replacements, to simple clinical tools for General Practitioners to predict who is likely to need a hip replacement and a modular training method for ultrasound guided hip injection. In 2011 the key study demonstrating ultrasound synovitis is a biomarker predicting response to injection in hip osteoarthritis has been published in the top ranking rheumatology journal, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases: the first predictor of response to therapy in osteoarthritis.

Within Newcastle and beyond, fruitful collaborations have established, including those with the Newcastle 85+ Study team; Newcastle Thousand Families study; convening the British Society for Rheumatology Osteoarthritis Special Interest Group; DICHOA- an international Hand OA group-

and participation in OMERACT 11. With collaborators (especially Mike Reed & Mark Pearce) over 1200 subjects have been recruited to portfolio adopted studies, including Arthritis Research UK funded studies: VIDEO (103 subjects) and arcOGEN (800 subjects). He sits on the Arthritis Research UK Clinical Studies Group for Osteoarthritis & Related Disorders, reviews grants for Arthritis Research UK, NIHR HTA, Wellcome. He has contributed and reviewed proposals for calls for research for NIHR HTA. For NICE, he has represented the guideline development group for CG59 and been an invited expert for Scoping Workshops & Medical Technology Evaluation.

Dr Birrell’s research is funded by the National Osteoporosis Society, the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Ageing, NHS R&D, local charities and the imaging and pharmaceutical industry.


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Dr Anne-Gaëlle Borycki, BSc, PhDSenior Lecturer, University of Sheffield, Department of Biomedical [email protected] the satellite cell niche in young and ageing skeletal muscles

Dr Borycki graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry in 1986 and completed a MSc in Biochemistry in 1987 from the University of Sciences Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris. She obtained her PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Science Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris in 1992. After a short post-doctoral training at the Gustave Roussy Cancer Institute of Villejuif (France), she took a post-doctoral position in the laboratory of Professor Charles Emerson, Jr. at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Philadelphia, USA) in 1994. In 2000, she was appointed as a Lecturer in the department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Sheffield.

Anne-Gaëlle was a member of the European Union Network of Excellence Cells into Organs (2003-2009) and MYORES (2004-2010). She was a steering committee member and workpackage leader within MYORES. Since 2007, she is member of the Scientific Advisory board of Association Francaise contre les Myopathies (AFM).

Anne-Gaëlle’s work has largely focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying the initiation of the myogenic program during embryonic development. Using her expertise in several vertebrate animal models (chick, mouse, and zebrafish),

she has unraveled the role of the signaling pathway Sonic hedgehog in the formation of skeletal muscles. More recently, her research interest has been on the role of the extra-cellular matrix in the control of muscle progenitor cell behavior both in the embryonic and adult muscle. A particular recent focus is on the characterization of the satellite muscle stem cell niche and the role of the extra-cellular matrix in this context.

Prof. David J Burn, FRCP, MD, MA, MBBSDirector of the Institute for Ageing and Health, Director of the Clinical Ageing Research Unit and Professor of Movement Disorders Neurology, Newcastle University Director of the Newcastle Biomedicine’s BRU in Lewy Body [email protected] research into the predictors and treatment of dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease

David Burn is Professor of Movement Disorder Neurology at Newcastle University and Honorary Consultant Neurologist for Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust. He is a Senior NIHR Investigator and Director of the Clinical Ageing Research Unit, located on the University Campus for Ageing and Vitality. He is the Director of the University Institute for Ageing and Health. He successfully led Newcastle Biomedicine’s recent £4.5M application for a Biomedical Research Unit in Lewy body Dementia.

He qualified from Oxford University and Newcastle upon Tyne Medical School in 1985. His MD was in the functional imaging of parkinsonism. He runs the Movement Disorders service in Newcastle upon Tyne which provides a large regional service. Research interests include dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy.

He was the Royal College of Physicians’ representative on the NICE National Guidelines writing group for Parkinson’s disease (2004-2006). He is currently a member of Medical Advisory Panels for the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (Europe) Association, Multiple System Atrophy Trust and Parkinson’s UK.

He was a member of the Special Interest Committee Task Force of the International Movement Disorder Society for Diagnostic Criteria for Parkinsonian Disorders (2002-3) and the Parkinson’s disease Dementia Task Force (2004-6). He has been Chair of the PD Clinical Study Group of NIHR-DeNDRoN since May 2008 and was appointed NIHR-DeNDRoN Associate Director/National Lead for Parkinson’s disease in July 2010. He was Clinical Reviews Editor for the Movement Disorder Journal from January 2007 before taking on an Associate Editorial role in January 2010. Professor Burn was elected to the International Executive Committee of the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) in June 2009 and is currently Chair of the MDS Congress Scientific Programme Committee. He has published over 160 articles on movement disorders in peer reviewed journals.

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Dr Nadine Carroll, MD, FRCPConsultant Geriatrician, Royal Liverpool University Hospitals NHS [email protected] prevention and assessment

Dr Carroll graduated in Medicine from the University of Liverpool in 1981. She worked in Liverpool and Leicester before undertaking a Research Fellow post at the Brompton Hospital, London in 1985. Her research work was awarded an MD by the University of Liverpool in 1989 with her thesis entitled “The use of protriptyline and/or nocturnal mechanical ventilatory support for respiratory failure in patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema.” Whilst at the Brompton Hospital her work involved patients with sleep disordered breathing and respiratory failure due to musculoskeletal chest wall disease.

Returning to Liverpool in 1989 as Englert Lecturer to the University Department of Medicine where the research interest was muscle disease, she found clinical and research parallels with her previous experience. Her research involved a wide range of conditions from Duchenne muscular dystrophy to chronic fatigue syndrome and lead to a number of published papers.

Nadine was appointed as Consultant Geriatrician to the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital in 1994 where her clinical responsibilities are largely for older people

presenting with acute illness. She is the Trust clinical lead for falls and introduced a falls assessment service run largely by nurses and therapists which she supports with a weekly medical falls clinic. A number of publications in abstract form have been generated from this service. Since appointment as a Consultant Geriatrician she has been actively facilitating research between trainees in Geriatric Medicine and the University Department of Medicine. She was Clinical Director of Geriatric Medicine at the Trust from 2001-09.

Dr Carroll has a strong interest in medical education having been Programme Director for Geriatric Medicine (2004-7), and latterly Programme Director for Core Medical Training in Mersey (2007-current date) supervising medical training for 130 junior doctors.

Prof. Robin Huw Crompton, BSc, AM, PhDProfessor, Department of Musculoskeletal Biology II, Institute for Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of [email protected] body dynamic and finite elements modelling and experimental analysis of the biomechanics and evolution of bipedalism and their significance for healthy musculoskeletal ageing

Professor Crompton graduated with a BSc in Anthropology from University College London University College Cardiff in 1973 and went on to an AM (1975) and PhD (1980) in Biological Anthropology at Harvard University. He then joined the newly established Medical School at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as an anatomist, before moving to Liverpool in 1986, where he has remained. He was appointed to a personal Chair in 2003. He is Editor in Chief of the ISI-cited multidisciplinary journal Folia Primatologica, and serves on BBSRC Committee A; NERC Peer College and EPSRC High Performance Computing Committee.

Robin’s principal research interest is in locomotor ecology and biomechanics, and his laboratory has a worldwide reputation for innovation in predictive dynamic modeling of gait. It was one of the first to establish whole-body inverse and forwards dynamic analysis as a powerful and accurately predictive research tool. Emphasis in their work on validation against real-world experimental data and sensitivity testing has contributed very substantially to acceptance of modelling techniques as part of the core methodological inventory for analysis of locomotor biomechanics. They have also

developed cutting edge techniques in gait analysis, for example developing an unique method for pixel-by- pixel topographical statistical analysis of foot pressure and similar landmark-free biomechanical phenomena, pedobarographic Statistical Parametric Mapping (worldwide patent pending). Their research has increasingly focused on analysis of the dynamically-tunable nature of the foot, which enables it to transmit breaking, propulsive and balancing forces to the ground with maximum efficiency, and on the light which the evolution of hominin body proportions and segment inertial properties throws on the biomechanics of ageing in human gait, and interventions to promote safe/stable walking in older people and the infirm.

Professor Crompton’s research has been funded by bodies including MRC, EPSRC, NERC, BBSRC, The Leverhulme Trust and the Royal Society.

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Dr Daniel Cuthbertson, BSc, PhD, MRCPClinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Physician, Department of Obesity and Endocrinology, Institute of Ageing and Chronic [email protected] Understanding the interaction between obesity/ectopic fat deposition, insulin resistance and human metabolism

Dr Cuthbertson graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1996 with his medical degree (MBChB with Commendation) having completed an intercalated degree in Physiology in 1993 (Upper Second Class degree). Having achieved MRCP in 1999, he moved to the University of Dundee to undertake his PhD thesis with Professor Mike Rennie investigating ‘Studies on the effects of essential amino acids and exercise on human skeletal muscle protein synthesis in health, ageing and in type 2 diabetes’. Thereafter he continued to work as a Lecturer and continue research on skeletal muscle metabolism, particularly with respect to ageing and insulin resistance. In 2007, Dr Cuthbertson took up his current position as a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Obesity and Endocrinology at the University of Liverpool.

Dr Cuthbertson’s research has been in two main areas. First, in understanding the mechanisms by which muscle mass declines with ageing and chronic disease. He has previously described the concept of anabolic resistance as a mechanism to explain sarcopenia and now is undertaking studies to determine if this mechanistic defect of anabolic resistance explains accelerated sarcopenia seen in such chronic diseases as type 2 diabetes

and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Secondly, his research focuses on the metabolic implications of obesity (e.g. insulin resistance) and in particular ectopic fat deposition in liver and skeletal muscle and to what extent these defects are reversible with physical activity.

Dr Cuthbertson’s research is funded by the European Federation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD), Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation (DRWF), the NovoNordisk Research Foundation and the pharmaceutical industry (Pfizer, Ipsen, Otsuka).

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Dr Rachel Duncan, BM, MSc, PhD, MRCPClinical Senior Lecturer, Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle [email protected] the impact of musculoskeletal disease in the oldest old and improving management

Dr Duncan graduated in medicine from the University of Southampton in 1993. She was awarded MRCP in 1998 and went on to train as a Rheumatologist in the South Thames and West Midlands deaneries. During her Specialist Registrar training she completed an MSc in Rheumatology in 2001 at the University of Birmingham and was awarded a NIHR Walport Clinical Lectureship in 2006.

Her PhD was undertaken at the Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre at Keele University with Professor Croft and Professor Hay, and was awarded in 2008 with a thesis entitled “The association between symptoms and radiographic osteoarthritis in older persons with knee pain: a population-based study”. Following the award of her PhD, Dr Duncan continued to work as Clinical Lecturer at Keele University, where her research centred on the epidemiology of joint pain and osteoarthritis of the knee, focusing on the incidence and progression of radiological patellofemoral joint osteoarthritis.

In 2012, she was appointed as a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University, where her main research interest is within musculoskeletal

ageing in primary care, particularly the oldest old with complex medical needs due to multimorbidity and polypharmacy. Involvement with the MRC-funded Newcastle 85+ Study has led her to now focus on the impact of musculoskeletal disease in this age group and on health services research to improve the management of common musculoskeletal problems encountered in primary care in the oldest old.


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Prof. Francesco FalcianiProfessor of Integrative Systems Biology, University of [email protected] Biology of ageing muscles

Professor Falciani trained in Molecular Immunology at the Mario Negri Pharmacology institute in Milan. During his post-doc at the Wellcome/CRC Institute in Cambridge he developed an interest in complex dataset integration and computational modeling. He has extensive experience of the pharmaceutical industry where he was Bioinformatics Team Leader at GlaxoWelcome and Head of Target Discovery at Lorantis Ltd. He was, until recently, Reader in Computational Biology at the University of Birmingham where he co-chaired the Systems Science for Health program. He has recently relocated to the University of Liverpool where he has been appointed Professor of Integrative Systems Biology.

Francesco heads a research group at the interface between experimental and computational biology. His research interests range from the development of novel computational methods to address the most important challenges in the emerging discipline of systems biology to their application to model complex biological systems. He is currently leading several research projects addressing important questions in muscle skeletal dysfunction in ageing. Of particular relevance is the development of computational models representing the

evolution of molecular networks in ageing muscles. These models have already helped identifying novel regulatory circuits controlling muscle bioenergetics decline in ageing and ageing-related diseases. Other areas of research include Stem Cells differentiation towards bone and cartilage and muscle angiogenesis.

His research is currently funded by BBSRC, NERC, DEFRA, the European Commission and by the pharmaceutical Industry.

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Prof. Alejandro F. Frangi, BSc/MSc, PhD, SMIEEEProfessor of Biomedical Image Computing, University of [email protected] image-based computational physiology models for minimally invasive treatment planning and guidance

Professor Frangi graduated with a BSc/MSc in Telecommunications Engineering from the Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain in 1996, and completed a PhD at the University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands in 2001. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of Zaragoza, Spain, from 2001-2004, Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow (2004-2007) and subsequently Associate Professor (2007-2011) at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. He served as Dean of the Polytechnic School at UPF (2008-2011). He is Professor of Biomedical Image Computing at the University of Sheffield since October 2011. Prof Frangi has over 85 papers in key international journals of his research field with an h-index 29. He is Senior Member of IEEE and Associate Editor of IEEE Trans on Medical Imaging and Medical Image Analysis. Prof Frangi is a recipient of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Early Career Award (2006), and the ICREA-Academia Prize (2009).

He is member of the newly created INSIGNEO Institute for in silico Medicine, a joint initiative from the University of Sheffield and the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. His main research interests are in medical image

computing, image- and sensor-based computational physiology particularly in the areas of the neuromusculoskeletal and cardiorespiratory domains. Prof Frangi has been principal investigator or scientific coordinator of over 20 national and European projects, both funded by public and private bodies. During 1/2006-3/2010 he was coordinator of the @neurIST (www.aneurist.org), a €12.6m European Integrated Project that first brought to the clinical arena the Virtual Physiological Human concepts; during 1/2006-12/2009 he was scientific co-PI for the Spanish CENIT Technology Platform CDTEAM (www.cdteam.org) funded with €15.7m by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through CDTI and involving 10 companies and 10 academic organizations. He currently participates in the euHeart (www.euheart.eu) Integrated Project led by Philips Healthcare, the Virtual Physiological Human Network of Excellence (www.vph-noe.eu), and is Scientific Coordinator of the CENIT Technology Platform cvREMOD (www.cvremod.com) funded with €13.6m by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.


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Prof. Jim Gallagher, BSc, PhDDerby Professor of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, Bone and Joint Research Group, Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of [email protected] the basic mechanisms underlying human bone and joint disease

Professor Jim Gallagher obtained his BSc from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and MSc from the University of Aberdeen, followed by a PhD from the University of Cambridge where he investigated the metabolism of vitamin D, under the supervision of Eric Lawson. He then undertook postdoctoral research in Herbie Fleisch’s lab in Bern working on bisphosphonates. He returned to England to work in Graham Russell’s lab in Sheffield where along with Jon Beresford, he developed the first techniques to culture cells expressing an osteoblastic phenotype from human bone. In 1984 he was appointed to a lectureship in Mineralised Tissue Biology at University College London where he worked with Alan Boyde. He moved to the Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Liverpool in 1986 and has undertaken short sabbaticals at the University of Melbourne with Jack Martin working on PTHrP and Ciba-Geigy, Basle with Graeme Bilbe on gene expression in bone. Jim has published over 100 full peer-reviewed publications (H-index 30), over 20 book chapters and 5 patents. He has a distinguished record in academic leadership and mentorship having been the head of a large academic department for 7 years and having supervised 22 PhD students, 7 of whom hold academic positions in

UK universities. His group pioneered research on the role of extracellular nucleotides and P2 receptors in bone. He is a founder member of the UK Purine Club. He collaborated extensively with industry and is a founder and director of PalindromX, a UoL spin-out company. Recently his laboratory has elucidated the mechanism of joint destruction in the inherited disease alkaptonuria (AKU). He is scientific advisor to the AKU Society UK and a co-ordinator of FindAKUre, a Europe-wide collaboration to develop new therapeutic strategies for AKU.

Professor Gallagher’s research has been funded by research councils, Wellcome Trust, ARUK, EUFP & industry. He currently holds grants from the Big Lottery and the AKU Society.

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Dr Alison Gartland, BSc, PhD, PGCert HE, FEHEALecturer in Bone Biology, University of [email protected] the basic cellular and molecular mechanisms of musculoskeletal diseases

Dr Gartland graduated with a BSc in Biomedical Technology from Sheffield Hallam University in 1995 and completed a PhD at the University of Liverpool in 2001. She undertook postdoctoral training at the Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier, CNRS, France and in the laboratory of the late Sandy Marks at University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA before returning to The University of Liverpool in 2004. Dr Gartland was appointed as Lecturer in Bone Biology at the University of Sheffield in 2006.

Alison’s principal research interest is in understanding the basic cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for musculoskeletal disease and cancer, with an emphasis on the role of extracellular ATP and P2 receptors. Current projects include investigating the role of P2 receptors in bone and cartilage using both in vivo and in vitro models; the mechanisms of ATP release from osteoblasts; association of polymorphisms in the P2X7 receptor with osteoporosis and arthritis-induced joint destruction and bone loss; the effect of metal ions on bone cells in vitro and determining the bone phenotype of various knock-out mice.

Alison is a founder member of the European Nucleotides and Bone Consortium, which facilitates collaboration between leading European research groups working on ATP, P2 receptors and bone. Alison’s research is funded by Arthritis Research UK and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Alison is currently a committee member of the Bone Research Society and founder and secretary of the UK Purine Club.

Cross-section through a primary chondrocyte culture in vitro

P2X7R-induced ethidium bromide uptake (red) in human osteoclasts in vitro

TRAP stained human osteoclasts (red) resorbing the surface of ivory (blue-purple)


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Prof. Douglas Gray, BSc, PhDProfessor of Ageing Science, Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle [email protected] age-related changes in protein homeostasis and their impact on tissue structure and function

Professor Gray received doctoral training as a retrovirologist at the University of Western Ontario and postdoctoral training in mammalian insertional mutagenesis at the Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has previously been a Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Professor of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunlogy at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada. Professor Gray was the inaugural holder of the University of Ottawa Joan Sealy Chair in Lung Cancer. He has recently relocated to Newcastle University where he has been appointed Professor of Ageing Science.

Doug’s interest in the ubiquitin/proteasome system arose from the identification of deubiquitinating enzymes during a mouse mutagenesis screen. He has created cell lines and transgenic mice which through a dominant negative strategy have advanced the study of protein homeostasis in vivo. He is particularly interested in the age-related decline of proteolytic efficiency and fidelity, and how this decline may contribute to diseases of ageing. Most recently he has generated knockout mice in which the loss of function of deubiquitinating enzymes leads to dysregulation of cell signalling systems

including the NF-KB pathway. These mice display age-related tissue dysfunction, and together with the dominant-negative transgenic strains are expected to provide insights into the ageing of muscle, bones and joints.

Professor Gray’s research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, and the JGW Patterson Foundation (UK).

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Prof. Richard D Griffiths, BSc, MBBS, MD, FRCP, FFICM, FHEAProfessor of Medicine (Intensive Care), Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, Institute of Ageing & Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool and Honorary Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at Whiston Hospital, Prescot, [email protected] lives: The rehabilitation of the critically ill

Professor Griffiths did his undergraduate training in Medicine (MBBS) at University College London where he also obtained a BSc in Physiology. This was followed by a research MD studying human muscle energetics by MR spectroscopy. On moving to Liverpool in 1984 he continued his research interests in muscle and expanded these into nutrition (glutamine) and the critically ill consistent with his medical career move in 1985 into adult Intensive Care Medicine.

Recognized internationally as a pioneer of the rehabilitation of the post-ICU patient, he was involved in the first ICU cost-effectiveness outcome study in the UK in conjunction with the Kings Fund in 1988. In 1995 awarded The John M Kinney International award for Nutrition and Metabolism for the effect of passive stretch on muscle in the critically ill. Subsequently Richard has published extensively on the physical, psychological and cognitive problems of the post ICU patient and led the first multi-centre study on the rehabilitation of the critically ill patient. His current research themes include collaborative laboratory research within musculoskeletal biology focusing on how skeletal muscle can be preserved in the critically ill elderly patient through effects on oxidative stress

and cellular protection mechanisms and clinical intensive care research on the physical, psychological and cognitive dysfunction following ICU. A multi-centre European study showed how an ICU diary could prevent post ICU PTSD and won the 2011 BioMed Central 5th Annual Research Awards (Medicine). Richard has contributed to the research evidence for a recent UK NICE clinical guideline on rehabilitation following intensive care.

As a clinical academic with a busy intensive care commitment Richard was for many years council member and Chair of the research committee of the Intensive Care Society contributing to the evolution of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine of which he is a founding fellow. He has also been extensively involved over the last two decades in undergraduate curriculum reform and as the Director of the Final Year has pioneered a much praised portfolio based learning program and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Professor Griffiths’ current research funding from the NIHR and the MRC.


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Prof. John Hunt, BSc, PhD, DSc. FRSCProfessor in The Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, Head of the Unit of Clinical Engineering and director of the U.K. Centre for Tissue Engineering (UKCTE), University of [email protected] the generic science and delivery of interventional Medical Therapies requiring the use of a material

Professor Hunt graduated with a BSc in Biology and Physics from Nottingham in 1988, completed a PhD at Liverpool in 1991 and was awarded his DSc in 2006. Professor Hunt undertook post-doctoral training in the Institute of Medical and Dental Bioengineering at the University of Liverpool and in 1992 was awarded the Jean Leray Award from the European Society of Biomaterials for his research. Professor Hunt then progressed through the academic career pathway to become Head of the Department of Clinical Engineering in 2004 and was given a personal chair at Liverpool in 2008.

John’s research focuses on developing breakthrough therapies, devices and technology to repair, replace, augment and in the future regenerate diseased and damaged tissues in humans using material interventions. These come from an in depth generic first principles approach to understanding and directing the patient’s cellular and molecular mechanisms and responses related to the clinical outcome and efficacy of medical devices, biocompatibility, inflammation and stem cell biology. Tissue engineering processes are developed and applied, addressing the key areas of patient treatments requiring intervention and material implantation; the materials of choice being

researched today also include cells and within that, expertise and intellectual property has been created relating to primary cell sourcing, controlling cell function and phenotype through defining and controlling extracellular matrix interactions, angiogenesis, inflammation and tissue regeneration. From a strong long lived generic research platform, specific applications and knowledge has been applied to and continue to be developed for musculoskeletal tissues, specifically cartilage and bone, visceral and vascular tissues.

Professor Hunt’s research has been funded by the European Commission, BBSRC, MRC and EPSRC as well as by Industry.

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Prof. John Innes, BVSc, PhD, DSAS(orth), MRCVSProfessor of veterinary surgery, Interim-head, Department of Musculoskeletal biology (Leahurst and Aintree campuses) University of [email protected] models of osteoarthritis and ligament degeneration

Professor Innes graduated in veterinary science from the University of Liverpool in 1991. After two years of postgraduate training in surgery at University of Bristol, he undertook a PhD in osteoarthritis at the Rheumatology Unit at Bristol Royal Infirmary under the direction of Paul Dieppe. He then spent a further five years as a clinical lecturer in veterinary orthopaedics at Bristol, working with Allen Bailey on collagen metabolism in canine ligament and equine bone, before moving to a chair of veterinary surgery at Liverpool in 2001. He has also spent periods of research leave with Bruce Caterson at Cardiff, and recently as a visiting professor at University of Sydney with Chris Little at the Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Laboratories.

Professor Innes’s research is focussed on naturally-occurring and induced models of OA and ligament failure. His work has contributed to the understanding of age-related loss of structural and material properties, in concert with cellular and matrix alterations (collagen and elastin), of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL); this had led to new work on human ACL degeneration and GWAS for canine cruciate failure. A recent consortium (Innes and Clegg at Liverpool, James Cook at Columbia, Missouri and Wayne McIlwraith at Fort Collins, Colorado) explored three different induced canine models of OA

using biomarkers, metabolomics and MRI to better understand these translational models. In vitro modelling of cartilage degradation in a variety of species has been used extensively to investigate candidate structure-modifying agents, including nutrients; a US patent was forthcoming from this work. More recent work, building on Wellcome Trust-funded research in Sydney, is exploring sustained-release, local-delivery siRNA therapeutic strategies in OA in collaboration with John Hunt.

Professor Innes’s research has been funded by Wellcome Trust, BBSRC, Horserace Betting Levy Board, Kennel Club and PetPlan charitable trusts, and the pharmaceutical and nutrition sectors.

Confocal images of cells of the anterior cruciate ligament [J. Anat. (2011) 218: 600-607].


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Prof. Carol Jagger, BSc, PhDAXA Professor of Epidemiology of Ageing, Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle [email protected] Development of existing and novel cohorts for studying musculoskeletal ageing

Professor Jagger graduated with a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Leeds in 1972. After five years of teaching in secondary schools she returned to Leeds to complete an MSc in Statistics and then began a PhD in Statistics at the University of Leicester which she completed in 1983. Professor Jagger was appointed Lecturer in Medical Statistics in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Leicester in 1987, Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology in 1994 and was awarded a personal Chair in 2000. Between 2001 and 2004 she was Director of the Leicester Unit of the Trent Institute for Health Services Research. In 2010 she was awarded a five-year AXA Professorship in Epidemiology of Ageing in the Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle University.

Carol’s research crosses the interface between epidemiology and demography of ageing, with a particular focus on healthy active life expectancy and its use to monitor population ageing. This work has been through major UK cohort studies of ageing. She played a leading role in the Melton Mowbray Studies of Ageing, which have resulted in over 50 scientific papers, and she has subsequently been a key player in the Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study and the Newcastle 85+ Study, multidisciplinary projects aimed at delivering new understanding of determinants of healthy

ageing. Carol’s work on disability and ageing at the individual level has spanned the whole disablement process, from understanding the building blocks commonly used to assess disability (Activities of Daily Living) and their order of loss with ageing in order to inform better technology design, through to the impact of changing disease patterns on disability and the need for long term care. The latter has involved the development of a microsimulation model based on the MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Study, allowing the impact of non-fatal diseases such as arthritis and fatal diseases (e.g. stroke) to be compared in terms of disability-free life expectancy. This work has gained considerable interest from government and Carol has been asked to provide evidence to the House of Commons Work-and-Pensions and Health Committees and the Dilnot Commission in its work planning social care provision for older people. Carol holds a visiting Chair in the Institute of Primary Care and Health Sciences at Keele University and chairs the Cross-cohort Steering Group for their Arthritis Research UK National Primary Care Centre.

Professor Jagger’s research is funded by the AXA Research Fund, the Medical Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council and the European Union Public Health Programme.

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Dr Jonathan Jarvis, BSc PhDReader in Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of [email protected] adaptation in response to activity

Dr Jonathan Jarvis graduated BSc in Physics with Physiology from Queen Elizabeth College London and PhD in Biochemistry from Imperial College. He began research investigating changes in muscle speed, force and endurance induced by increased activity. With Stanley Salmons he developed implantable muscle pacemakers for experimental use. Using miniature integrated circuits, complex daily patterns of muscle activity can now be investigated in mice.

As a Beit Memorial Fellow he pursued the concept of cardiac assistance from skeletal muscle, exploiting the extreme resistance to fatigue induced by chronic activation. With BHF programme funding he demonstrated the feasibility of transferring pumping effort from transposed skeletal muscles to the failing cardiovascular system, establishing a successful preclinical model.

He showed that the effects of particular patterns of activity are scaled with body size in a similar way to the scaling of the natural force-frequency relationships. He has thus advised on stimulation patterns used to assist the heart in man, to activate paralysed muscles to improve muscle bulk, and to activate laryngeal muscles in equine neuropathy.

He currently measures transcriptional (PCR and microarray) and morphological (micro-CT) responses of musculoskeletal units to increased and decreased activity. With Jim Gallagher and Nathan Jeffery he is investigating the integrated responses of muscle, bone and tendon to muscle loading, and to disuse induced by tetrodotoxin block. These experiments will provide objective guidance in prescribing exercise or rest for maintenance of musculoskeletal health. Once the principles of the response to exercise and disuse are understood in model systems, the similarities and differences across species, with ageing and with genetic variation can be pursued.


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Dr Nathan Jeffery, BSc PhDSenior Lecturer, Department of Musculoskeletal Biology II, Institute for Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of [email protected] the principal functional demands that underpin the morphological diversity and evolution of mammals

Dr Nathan Jeffery completed his PhD on ontogenetic models of skull evolution at University College London in 1999. He was subsequently awarded a Wellcome Trust post-doctoral fellowship to continue his work before leaving in 2002 to take up a lectureship in anatomy at the University of Liverpool. Nathan is presently a senior lecturer in the Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease.

Nathan’s research focuses primarily on the ontogeny and evolution of morphological adaptations in mammals and how this can contextualise our understanding of development, disease as well as ageing. He has developed several imaging approaches to document these adaptations, including high-resolution MRI and contrast enhanced microCT, and employs advanced computational methods such as geometric morphometrics and biomechanical simulations to test key paradigms. Current core interests include evolution of the mammalian inner ear, biomechanics of the rodent masticatory apparatus as well as the functional anatomy of the paranasal sinuses in carnivores and the biomechanical consequences of monodactyl locomotion among equids. He currently

collaborates with colleagues in applying the above ideas and techniques to provide important insights into muscle wasting, cardiac failure, fracture of the proximal phalanx in racehorses as well as the initiation and progression of alkaptonuria and other forms of degenerative joint disease.

Dr. Jeffery’s research is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and various charities.

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Dr Elizabeth Laird, BSc, PhDLecturer in Orthopaedic Sciences, Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of [email protected] the role of collagen synthesis and degradation in age-related musculskeletal conditions

Dr Laird (née Canty) graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry from the University of Nottingham in 1997. Elizabeth was awarded the Masson-Gulland Memorial Prize and Medal from the Department of Chemistry for outstanding final year project work in Biological Chemistry. Elizabeth’s PhD studies at the University of Manchester were funded by Arthritis Research UK and investigated the biochemical basis of an inherited form of short-limbed dwarfism with early-onset osteoarthritis. Dr Laird undertook postdoctoral training in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research in Manchester, funded by two sequential Wellcome Trust program grants, during which time she was instrumental in the identification and characterisation of the cellular mechanisms of collagen fibril alignment in tendon. Elizabeth was awarded the Rupert Timpl prize in 2006 from the International Society for Matrix Biology for the best paper published in the field in the preceding 2 years. Dr Laird was appointed to a Lectureship in Orthopaedic Sciences at the University of Liverpool in 2010. Dr Laird’s research interests encompass the mechanisms of collagen fibre assembly organisation in musculoskeletal tissues and the role of collagen synthesis and degradation in age-related musculoskeletal

conditions. Projects include a PhD studentship to characterise the molecular differences between ligament and tendon and a collaborative departmental BBRSC-funded PhD studentship using systems biology to improve tissue engineering of cartilage and tendon.


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Prof. Sue Mawson MCSP Bsc (Hon) PhDDirector, NIHR CLAHRC for South Yorkshire Professor of Health Services [email protected] and Assistive Technologies research group at the School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield

Professor Sue Mawson originally trained as a Physiotherapist in London at the Middlesex Hospital graduating with a Bsc (Hons) in 1991 from Sheffield Hallam University where she developed and lead the Masters in Neurological Rehabilitation. In 1997 she completed her PhD study identifying the characteristics of motor recovery following a stroke. In 2011 Sue was appointed Professor of Health Services Research in the School for Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield, working within the Rehabilitation and Assistive technology group and the newly established a Centre for Assistive Technology and Digital Healthcare. In 2011 Sue became an elected Board member of the Health Services Research Network working with senior research leaders to promote and develop a research culture within the NHS.

Professor Mawson’s research focuses on improving the quality of life of people with long term conditions, particularly through exploration of the effectiveness of rehabilitative interventions. Sue’s research work, funded predominantly through the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, has capitalised on new innovations in sensor and digital technologies and involves interdisciplinary work, integrating clinical rehabilitation researchers with engineering, design, mecatronics, informatics and digital media specialists. www.theSmartconsortium.org. Her work has lead to a

number of publications in the field of outcome measurement, tele rehabilitation and the use of user-centred design in the development of innovative health technologies.

Sue is currently a partner on an EU Framework 7 bid with colleagues in Sweden, Italy and Poland the purpose of the research being to improve the implementation of ICT based models for chronic disease management. Internationally Sue is developing research links with the Veterans Administration Medical Centre in Washington DC which she visited in February of this year, the University of Jordan in Amman, the Southern Cross University in New South Wales and Queensland University in Queensland.

In 2008 Professor Mawson led the successful South Yorkshire application to become a National Institute of Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in applied Research and Care (CLARHC). This multi disciplinary innovation community is driven by the needs of people with long term conditions, undertaking applied research, capacity development and knowledge implementation, identifying news ways of enabling the adoption and diffusion of evidence based practices and services through user-centred design methods and self management principles. www.clahrc-sy.nihr.ac.uk.

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Dr Jennifer Milner BSc (Hons), MSc, PhDArthritis Research UK Career Development [email protected] the role of novel serine proteases in the proteolytic pathways leading to cartilage resorption in arthritis

Jennifer Milner graduated in BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from Warwick University in 1997 and MSc in Biochemical Pharmacology from University of Southampton in 1998. She completed her PhD studies with Professor Tim Cawston in the Musculoskeletal Research Group, Newcastle in 2001. Dr Milner undertook her postdoctoral training with Professors Tim Cawston and Drew Rowan in Newcastle and was awarded an Arthritis Research UK Career Development Fellowship in 2009.

Dr Milner’s research interest is on understanding the proteolytic pathways that lead to cartilage resorption in arthritis in order to identify new therapeutic targets. Her PhD studies showed that activation of pro-collagenases is a key control point in cartilage collagen resorption and that serine proteases are involved in these activation cascades. Dr Milner’s postdoctoral studies focused on profiling serine protease expression in chondrocytes and cartilage and identifying which were elevated in arthritis. This work led to the identification of several serine proteases and their role in cartilage biology is under investigation. In the last few years Dr Milner’s work has focused on a membrane serine protease, matriptase, which is elevated in osteoarthritic cartilage and can initiate cartilage resorption. Matriptase is

not just an activator of pro-collagenases but also an inducer of collagenase expression and is a potent initiator of cartilage resorption. This supports the emerging concept that proteases are not just merely degradative enzymes but are key players in modulating cell behaviour and function.

Dr Milner’s research is funded by Arthritis Research UK, The Nuffield Foundation, Medical Research Council and JGW Patterson Foundation.


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Dr Peter Milner BVetMed, BSc, PhD, CertES(Orth), MRCVS, FHEALecturer, Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of [email protected] physiology of articular cartilage

Dr Peter Milner graduated in veterinary medicine from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London in 1997, having achieved an intercalated BSc in Physiology with Biomedical Sciences (First Class) in 1994. After three years in private practice, Dr Milner undertook postgraduate training in surgery at the University of Cambridge, remaining at Cambridge to complete a PhD in cellular physiology of articular cartilage. During this work he studied the importance of mitochondrial derived reactive oxygen species in regulating cellular function, such as intracellular pH homeostasis and has published in a number of journals such as Arthritis and Rheumatism, Pflugers Archive – European Journal of Physiology and Osteoarthritis and Cartilage. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, University of Liverpool.

Peter’s research interests lies in the link between alterations in the physiochemical environment of the joint (such as oxygen and pH) and the effects on cellular function, in particular regulation of chondrocyte activity by the mitochondrion. He has a diversity of research and clinical interests ranging from pain pathways involving puringergic P2X receptors in chronic disease to MRI and biomechanics of the equine hoof.

Dr Milner’s work has been supported by the Wellcome Trust, BBSRC, Horserace Betting Levy Board and PetPlan Charitable Trust and has recently been awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Leave Fellowship to pursue work in the role of anti-oxidant systems in osteoarthritis and the ageing joint with Professor Malcolm Jackson.

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Prof. Robert J Moots, PhD, FRCPProfessor of Rheumatology, Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, Institute of Chronic Diseases and Ageing, University of [email protected] the role of inflammation in musculoskeletal diseases: driving the development of new therapies from bench to bedside

After qualifying in Medicine in London UK and undertaking junior medical posts at Northwick Park Hospital, London, Professor Moots earned his PhD in immunology at the Institute for Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford. He then completed his training in rheumatology at the University of Birmingham before leaving the UK to continue his research at Harvard Medical School, USA, in 1995. On his return to the UK he joined the University of Liverpool, initially as Senior lecturer in Rheumatology and consultant Rheumatologist at University Hospital Aintree and in 2002, full Professor of Rheumatology, the youngest person appointed to such a post in the UK.

Professor Moots’ research interests lie in clinical and basic science aspects of rheumatic diseases from bench to bedside, focused on the role of inflammation. He has published extensively in both clinical and laboratory science, receives research funding from research councils, charities and the pharmaceutical industry, has won many awards for research (including the Michael Mason Prize in 1997) and plays leading roles as Chairman or Board member on major scientific bodies and research committees in the UK and internationally.

Professor Moots has extensive experience in drug development - working with the pharmaceutical industry globally and acting as medical advisor to the UK National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). He is Medical Advisor to a number of major patient associations and each year receives invitations to lecture on every continent. In 2009, he became Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Rheumatology.


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Dr Munitta Muthana, PhD Lecturer in Academic Unit of Rheumatology [email protected] Understanding the role of inflammatory cells in arthritis

Munitta’s principal research interest is in understanding the basic cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for the recruitment and activation of inflammatory cells in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A classical feature of RA is the massive influx and activation of inflammatory cells particularly ‘macrophages’ resulting in inadequate oxygen supply that can’t keep pace making the joint hypoxic (oxygen-deficient). Similar to cancers, where hypoxic macrophages contribute to tumour growth and spread, Munitta believes that RA is sustained by macrophages that adopt an abnormal function in hypoxia and participate in the perpetuation of the disease and in the destruction of joint tissues. By studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms through which macrophages respond to hypoxia in the joint, new ways to target these cells and their products will be identified. Current research projects in Munitta’s team include identifying the distinct macrophage subtypes within hypoxic RA joints and investigating the key hypoxia-regulated mechanisms promoting their recruitment and activation and using an exciting ‘nanomagnetic’ approach developed in Munitta’s laboratory to stop the affects of these macrophages and arrest or even reverse disease progression and joint damage in pre-clinical RA models. This research builds on Munitta’s previous

research interests on targeting macrophage subsets in the hypoxic tumour microenvironment. Since the proliferative and invasive nature of the RA synovium has frequently led to comparisons with growing tumours and both these diseases are exacerbated by macrophages, Munitta is in a unique position to adapt previous expertise to develop novel therapeutic strategies that block macrophage uptake and/or activity in rheumatoid joints.

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Prof. Jon Nicholl, DSc, FFPHProfessor of Health Services Research and Dean of the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), University of [email protected] methods for the evaluation of treatments and services

Professor Nicholl trained as a statistician and after working as a research associate at University College London carrying out road traffic accident research, moved to the University of Sheffield as statistician to the Medical Care Research Unit. He was appointed Director of the MCRU in 1994. He is an NIHR Senior Investigator, a fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, and also a Chartered Statistician and Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

He was Deputy Chair of the MRC Health Services and Public Health Research Board and the MRC Clinical Trials Cross-Board. He was also Chair of both the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme Commissioning Boards. He is currently Director of the NIHR national School of Public Health Research and Chair of the Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care panel for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.

His main research interests lie in the evaluation of health care and health policy, particularly in the field of emergency and urgent care. He has a long standing interest in accident research, and the management of trauma. He has been Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on over 20 major

Randomised Controlled Trials, and has been instrumental in developing the Sheffield Clinical Trials Research Unit. He has published a wide range of both trial and non-trial evaluation studies and methods papers on innovative and mixed methods approaches to evaluation. Professor Nicholl’s current research is mainly focused on the use of large observational datasets, created by linking bespoke clinical datasets and routine health service data, for the evaluation of treatments and services.


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Prof. Stuart Parker, MD, FRCPProfessor of Health Care for Older People, University of [email protected] and delivering effective health services for older people

Professor Stuart Parker graduated in Medicine from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1980. He trained in Medicine and Geriatric Medicine in Newcastle upon Tyne, and gained his MD in 1990. Stuart was awarded a Nuffield Foundation/ British Geriatrics Society travelling fellowship to pursue post-doctoral research training in Gerontology in the Netherlands, before returning to the UK to take up a Senior Lectureship at the University of Leicester. Stuart came to Sheffield in 2000 to take up a chair in Health Care for Older People in the Sheffield Institute for Studies on Ageing. He is an honorary consultant physician at Barnsley Hospital, where he is director of Research and Development.

Stuart is a health services researcher and his interests focus on the organisation and delivery of effective health services for older people including acute care, care transitions, case management, the assessment of health status, intermediate care and rehabilitation.

Stuart is part of a team that was awarded the NIHR Collaboration for leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for South Yorkshire, of which he is associate

director. This is a major programme of applied health research which directly addresses the “second gap” in translation from campus to clinic. During 2010/11 this programme had 84 active projects (11 of which were completed), 45 peer-reviewed publications and over 250 people working on CLAHRC SY projects across South Yorkshire.

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Dr Joao Passos, BSc, MRes, PhDBBSRC David Phillips Fellow, Newcastle [email protected] the role of signalling pathways leading to telomere and mitochondrial dysfunction in cellular ageing

Dr Joao Passos graduated with a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Porto, Portugal in 2002 having spent a year conducting research on stress response in bacteria at the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology in Porto. He then integrated in 2002 the highly competitive graduate program from Porto University, GABBA and conducted his PhD between 2003-2006 at Newcastle University with Tom Kirkwood and Thomas von Zglinicki investigating the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in cellular ageing. He remained in Newcastle University as a Research Associate at the BBSRC-funded Centre for Integrate Systems Biology of Ageing and Nutrition (CISBAN) and temporarily at the Max Planck Institute for Stem Cell ageing in Ulm, Germany. During that time he investigated signalling pathways involved in cellular ageing.

In November 2010 Joao took up a David Phillips Fellowship and is now leading a team at the Institute for Ageing and Health of 4 PhD students, 1 research technician and several undergraduate and MRes students.

Work in his laboratory combines mathematical modelling, functional networks and both in vitro and in vivo experimental systems to understand the role of signalling pathways leading to telomere dysfunction and mitochondrial dysfunction in cellular ageing.

Joao’s research was the first to demonstrate a link between telomeres and mitochondrial dysfunction during cellular ageing and his research is now focussing on identifying the signalling pathways involved in the process. Recently, his team has shown that stress-induced damage to telomeres occurs irrespectively of length and is an important factor in the ageing process. This work was published in Nature Communications in 2012.


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Prof. Hilary J Powers, BSc, PhD, RNutr, FSBProfessor of Nutritional Biochemistry, Head of Human Nutrition Unit, University of [email protected] the role of micronutrients in optimising function and modulating disease risk

Professor Powers graduated in biological sciences from the University of Leicester in 1971 and with a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, in 1979. She was on the scientific staff of the MRC Dunn Nutrition Laboratory at The University of Cambridge for 10 years, following which she moved to Sheffield University to help establish the Centre for Human Nutrition. In 2000 she was appointed Head of the Centre for Human Nutrition and in 2004 she was appointed to a chair in nutritional biochemistry.

Hilary’s research career has focussed on the metabolism and functional importance of micronutrients, including their roles in the pathophysiology of chronic disease and the mechanisms underpinning their function, including roles in minimising oxidative damage and DNA instability. Her research embraces study at the molecular level, employing cell models of depletion or of disease states, and at the whole body level. She has extensive experience of conducting randomised trials of micronutrients, with various functional outcomes in settings worldwide and across the human lifespan. She also has

interest and expertise in the development, optimisation and validation of functional biomarkers of nutritional status relevant to disease outcome.

Hilary continues to serve on national and international bodies engaged in furthering understanding of the importance of nutrients as determinants of disease risk, and establishing dietary recommendations. She currently sits on the Government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) and on the Department of Health’s Project Board for the National Diet and Nutrition Surveys. She has recently been appointed to chair the Department of Health Working Group on Vitamin D, which will report and make recommendations in 2014.

Hilary’s research has largely been supported by BBSRC, World Cancer Research Fund International, and the Department of Health (Food Standards Agency).

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Dr Carole Proctor, BSc, MSc, DPhilSenior Research [email protected] of computer simulation models of the molecular mechanisms of ageing in relation to musculoskeletal diseases

Dr Proctor graduated from the Open University in 1995 with a BSc in Mathematics and completed an MSc in applied stochastic processes at the University College London in 1997 followed by a DPhil in biomathematical modelling at the University of Sussex in 2000. She then moved to Newcastle University and carried out postdoctoral research with Professor Tom Kirkwood at the Institute for Ageing and Health investigating molecular mechanisms of ageing by the use of stochastic mathematical models. She has worked on a number of projects including the BBSRC-funded Biology of Ageing e-Science Integration and Simulation system which involved the development of web-based tools to build and simulate systems-biology models of ageing. In 2008, Dr Proctor obtained a Research Fellowship with Alzheimer Scotland and Alzheimer’s Research UK to investigate the role of protein aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases using a systems biology approach.

Carole’s principal research interest has been developing and using computer simulation models to investigate the key molecular mechanisms involved in maintaining protein homeostasis and how these are disturbed in ageing. Carole

worked closely with experimental scientists in the development of the models and for testing model predictions. Her collaborators included groups at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Southampton University, and King’s College London. Her current research is to develop systems biology models of osteoarthritis and cartilage metabolism. The aim of the models will be to establish which pathways are involved in cartilage homeostasis and how these are compromised as the tissue ages. The same pathways will also be examined in bone, muscle and tendon.

In 2006, Carole was elected to the Executive committee of the British Society for Research on Ageing and served as editor of their online journal and newsletter.

Dr Proctor’s research is funded by the Medical Research Council and Arthritis Research UK.


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Dr Louise Reynard, MA Cantab, PhDNewcastle University Research [email protected] characterisation of Osteoarthritis susceptibility loci

Louise Reynard graduated from the University of Cambridge with a MA Cantab in Natural Sciences, specialising in Genetics. She completed her PhD studies in Developmental Genetics at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research. Louise joined Newcastle University in 2009 when she began her postdoctoral training with Professor John Loughlin. She has now been promoted to Research Fellow status

Dr Reynard’s research is focused on the functional characterisation of OA susceptibility loci that have been identified by the arcOGEN consortium. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms that underlie the susceptibility mediated by these genes will increase our understanding of OA etiology, potentially aid diagnosis and treatment, and will suggest relevant targets for therapeutic investigation. Louise is also interested in the molecular interplay between genetics and epigenetics in OA susceptibility, in particular, how DNA methylation can modulate the effect of genetic variation on disease penetrance and severity. She is currently looking at the effect DNA methylation has on the expression of the OA susceptibility gene GDF5 in different synovial joint tissues.

Louise has presented her work at international meetings, including the OARSI world congress, the OARSI OA biomarkers Global Initiative, and the Nature winter symposium on Epigenetics in Development and Disease. As a STEMNET Ambassador, Louise has spoken about her research at several public events including two events at the Centre for Life museum in Newcastle organised by the Xplore Health consortium funded by the European commission. She supervises several PhD students and postdoctoral scientists within Professor Loughlin’s group. Louise’s research is funded by Arthritis Research UK, the Dr William Harker Foundation, and the JGW Patterson Foundation.

Prof. Lynn Rochester, MCSP, PhDProfessor of Human Movement Science, Newcastle [email protected] the mechanisms of gait and the impact of ageing and disease

Professor Lynn Rochester holds a BRC-funded Chair in Human Movement Science. She graduated as a physiotherapist in Newcastle, specialising in neuro-rehabilitation before completing her PhD in muscle physiology in 1992. She joined Newcastle University in 2008 and is a member of the Institute of Ageing and Health. She is Vice-Chair of the Scientific Trust of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy; a member of the Research Advisory Panel of Parkinson’s UK and a member of the International Movement Disorders Society Scientific Conference Programme Committee.

Lynn leads a research programme in gait and mobility disorders in age and age associated conditions. Lynn and her team are based in the Clinical Ageing Research Unit which houses state of the art equipment for movement analysis. The research is informed by 3 core themes: mechanisms of gait dysfunction; measurement of gait and activity; and intervention development to improve mobility. These themes form distinct yet overlapping and integrated bodies of work. Her main research interests are concerned with motor control of gait, impact of ageing, and the complex interactions of non-motor and motor symptoms and their consequences for independent mobility.

Examples of current work include the evaluation of gait as a biomarker for cognitive decline and use of neurophysiological techniques to explore the pathology of gait impairment in Parkinson’s; the use of technology such as virtual reality and computer gaming systems to address gait and mobility disorders, and use of external sensory cueing for rehabilitation. Outcome measurement is also a key area of research and includes the validation of novel outcome measures derived from tri-axial accelerometers to measure gait and activity and exploring their diagnostic and predictive validity for falls and cognitive impairment. Studies include a range of conditions such as neurodegenerative disorders, older adults and musculoskeletal disorders.

Lynn has published seminal translational studies defining and optimising methods to improve gait in Parkinson’s which changed clinical practice worldwide following adoption into clinical guidelines. A key research aim is to maximise impact through timely translation of findings into clinical practice and an academic physiotherapy service has been developed and integrated into the Regional Movement Disorders Service to facilitate this aim.

Lynn receives funding from the Medical Research Council, Michael J Fox Foundation, Parkinson’s UK, Welcome Trust, European Union FP7, National Institute for Health Research BRU in Lewy Body Dementia.

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Prof. Drew Rowan, BSc, PhDProfessor of Molecular Rheumatology, Deputy Head of the Musculoskeletal Research Group, Newcastle [email protected] the mechanisms of cartilage destruction in arthritis and developing new approaches to treatment

Professor Rowan graduated with a BSc in Biological Sciences in 1983 and completed his PhD at the world-renowned Strangeway’s Research Laboratories, Cambridge, in 1989. Professor Rowan performed his early post-doctoral training in the Joint Diseases Laboratory at the Shriner’s Institute in Montreal, followed by a post at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge. In 1996 he took up a lecturership at Newcastle University, helping Tim Cawston establish the Musculoskeletal Research Group. In 2007, Drew was appointed Professor of Molecular Rheumatology.

Drew has two main and interlinked research interests which focus on the molecular mechanisms underpinning cartilage breakdown in arthritic diseases. Firstly, his enzymologist training now focuses on the diverse proteinases that collectively drive cartilage breakdown. Despite a strong emphasis on the metalloproteinases, especially matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), we now know other enzyme classes also have important roles in arthritis. Indeed, several novel enzymes have been identified, and Drew’s early interest in protein structure:function relationships has been rekindled towards this. The development of inhibitors towards such enzymes

is a major research interest, and experimental models of both rheumatoid and osteo-arthritis are enabling this. Drew’s early arthritis studies focused on the concept of cytokine synergy, especially in the context of inflammatory arthritis. Studies have shown that several cytokines associated with the inflammation of arthritis are able to synergise, with a marked increase in the expression of the collagenolytic MMPs. Such interactions are clearly relevant to disease, and Drew has more recently focused on cell signaling pathways such as Akt and PKC, as well as the molecular mechanisms that mediate this synergistic expression. Finally, Drew has begun studying cartilage enzymes that themselves initiate cell signaling via proteolytic cleavage of receptors such as PAR-2 which lead to the expression of proteinases that drive cartilage destruction. A detailed understanding of such mechanisms will highlight new therapeutic targets for further investigation.

Professor Rowan’s research is funded by Arthritis Research UK, the Medical Research Council and local charities.

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Prof. Graham Russell, PhD, DM, FRCP, FRCPath. FMedSci, FRSProfessor of Musculoskeletal Pharmacology, and Botnar Research Centre, University of Oxford,; Mellanby Centre for Bone Research, University of [email protected] the causes of bone and joint diseases and the pharmacology of drugs to improve their treatment

Graham Russell graduated in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge in 1962 and gained his PhD from the MRC Mineral Metabolism Unit at the University of Leeds. In 1965, he joined Dr Herbert Fleisch in Davos, Switzerland, and their work led to the discovery of the biological effects of bisphosphonates. He completed his medical degree at Oxford University in 1971, while continuing research based at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Working with Roger Smith, this led to the first and successful clinical applications of bisphosphonates in Paget’s disease of bone. He held the Medical Research Fellowship at St Peter’s College from 1972-76, and was awarded his DM at Oxford in 1976. During the 1970s, he also held appointments in the University of Berne, Harvard University and at the Massachusetts General Hospital, before moving in 1976 to the Department of Chemical Pathology in the University of Sheffield Medical School. He became Professor and Head of Department of Human Metabolism and Clinical Biochemistry in 1977. In 2001 he moved to the University of Oxford as the Norman Collisson Chair of Musculoskeletal Sciences, became Head of the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the first Director of the Oxford University Institute of Musculoskeletal Sciences (the Botnar Research Centre), from 2002-7. After “retirement” he became Professor of Musculoskeletal Pharmacology and works at the Botnar Research Centre and the Mellanby Centre in Sheffield.

Graham was Heberden Orator of the BSR in 1993, recipient of the John B. Johnson award of the Paget’s Foundation in 1997, and the Kohn award of the NOS in 2000. He received the W F Neuman award of the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research in 2000, the Pieter Gaillard Founders award of the IBMS in 2007 and in 2008 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.

Graham is author of more than 500 publications on topics related to calcium metabolism and bone diseases. His interests include bone cell biology, cytokines, pathogenic mechanisms in bone and joint diseases such as arthritis, myeloma, bone metastases, and osteoporosis, and the evaluation of new therapeutic agents and their modes of action. Throughout he has played a central role in studying bisphosphonates, and in their clinical development and evaluation for the treatment of skeletal diseases. During the 1990s, Michael Rogers and others within his group in Sheffield elucidated the molecular mechanisms of action of bisphosphonates. His current research focuses on understanding their structure activity relationships, the design of novel compounds, and the detailed mechanisms of their actions on the skeleton and other systems.


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Prof. Tim Skerry, BVet.Med, PhD, Cert.SAO, FRCVSProfessor of Orthopaedic Biology, University of [email protected] of the skeleton by humoral and mechanical factors in health, disease and ageing

Professor Tim Skerry graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 1980 and worked for 4 years in clinical practice. In 1984 he was awarded a Wellcome Veterinary Training Fellowship, studied for a PhD with Lance Lanyon and was a visiting worker at the Kennedy Institute after which he took up a lectureship at the University of Bristol. In 1992 he was awarded a Wellcome Research Leave Fellowship and in 1995 was appointed as Professor of Biology at the University of York in 1995. In 2001 he was recruited to the Royal Veterinary College as Head of Basic Sciences and in 2003, was promoted to the position of Vice Principal for Research. In 2005, Tim relocated to his current position in Sheffield where as well as his academic position, he is now Chief Scientific Officer of Medella Therapeutics, a University spinout company with IP in cancer therapeutics.

Tim’s primary research interest in bone biology has been the mechanism of bone’s response of bone to mechanical loading and the identification of therapeutic targets for anabolic bone therapies. Tim has been involved in the use of arrays and other subtractive techniques to identify potential mediators of the effects of loading in bone and as a result of this identified glutamate as a signalling molecule in bone. More recently,

similar studies led to a focus on the role of receptor activity modifying proteins in cell signalling and the exciting discovery that receptor activity modifying protein can alter the G-protein activation responses of a single receptor to a single hormone.

This work is now leading to translational studies in bone and cancer where blockade of RAMPs may have therapeutic benefits. Tim is still interested in the interactions of loading/exercise and other osteotropic stimuli in order to identify simple lifestyle interventions to increase bone mass in youth or preserve it in older people.

Tim’s research is funded by BBSRC, EPSRC and commercial collaborators.

Fossil tibia of an iguanodon (c. 150M years old)

Section showing new bone formation shown by incorporation of fluorescence

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Dr Falko F Sniehotta, Dipl-Psych, PhDReader in Health Psychology, Head of Health Psychology Group in the Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle [email protected] behaviour change in patients and health professionals and developing interventions to improve health

Dr Sniehotta completed his PhD in Psychology (2004) at the Free University in Berlin. After six years as Lecturer (2004-2008) and Senior Lecturer (2008-2010) at the University of Aberdeen, he joined Newcastle University in 2010 as Reader in Health Psychology.

Dr Sniehotta’s research aims to understand the health-related behaviour of health professionals (e.g., provision of evidence based care, implementation of guidelines), patients (e.g., adherence) and healthy individuals (e.g., lifestyle behaviours) across the lifespan. This work involves the development and application of psychological theory. His theoretical work focuses on how people translate health-conducive intentions into sustained behaviour change, inspired by compelling evidence showing that knowledge and motivation alone are not enough to achieve widespread reduction of behavioural risk factors. His applied work focuses on the development and evaluation of complex interventions following MRC guidance for a range of behaviours and populations across the life-course. This work is interdisciplinary in nature, informed by evidence, theory and user involvement. Dr Sniehotta is a senior investigator in Fuse, the Newcastle-based UK Clinical

Research Collaboration Centre of Excellence for Translation Research in Public Health, which has recently become one of the first provisional members of the NIHR School for Public Health Research in the North East. Dr Sniehotta’s research is committed to evidence-based public health science, knowledge translation and public involvement and dissemination.

Dr Sniehotta is president-elect of the European Health Psychology Society and associate editor of Health Psychology Review. His research is funded by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute of Health Research.


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Dr Simon Tew, BSc, PhDLecturer in Orthopaedic Sciences, Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of [email protected] gene regulation in age related joint disorders

Dr Tew graduated in 1996 with a BSc in Biochemistry from Cardiff University. Remaining in Cardiff he went on to obtain a PhD, working in the Department of Anatomy on the responses of articular cartilage to injury. He subsequently moved to the University of Manchester where he spent seven years as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Matrix Research. During this time he maintained his interest in the biology of cartilage tissues, through a series of projects supported by the cross research council funded UK Centre for Tissue Engineering. He was appointed Lecturer in Orthopaedic Sciences at the University of Liverpool in 2010.

Simon’s main research focuses on the mechanisms that control gene expression in tissues within the diarthrodial joint, with particular emphasis on processes relevant to age-related degenerative diseases and to strategies which improve the regeneration of joint tissues. He supervises a range of projects, examples of which include investigations of post-transcriptional gene control in osteoarthritis and the employment of systems-based approaches to examine in vitro adaptation of cartilage and tendon cells. Arthritis Research UK, BBSRC, MRC and industrial partners have funded recent projects.

In 2011 Dr Tew was appointed Deputy Director of the MRes in Clinical Sciences and has recently been involved in implementing a number of developments to the course, which include the introduction of a musculoskeletal biology-specific pathway.

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Prof. Wendy Tindale, MSc, PhD, FIPEM, ARCPProfessor of Medical Physics, University of Sheffield and Scientific Director of Medical Imaging & Medical Physics, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation [email protected] technologies for an ageing population

Professor Wendy Tindale trained as a medical physicist at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield. During her career she has gained experience in imaging and image processing, software design and modelling, physiological measurement and medical device development. She was appointed Scientific Director of Medical Imaging & Medical Physics at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals in 2005 and, as Consultant Clinical Scientist, she leads one of the largest NHS centres of medical technology in the UK. She holds a Chair at the University of Sheffield and has a national role as Clinical Director of the ‘Devices for Dignity’ Healthcare Technology Co-operative, an NIHR/TSB/research council funded national research and technology transfer programme. Its focus is on identification of unmet clinical needs and development of technology solutions which enable independent living; assistive technologies which support the ageing population is part of its remit. She has an interest in combining clinical academic excellence with business opportunities through commercial translation of innovative medical technologies and has worked with both public and private sectors to facilitate successful collaborations.

Professor Tindale has over 120 publications, from imaging to bioengineering, and since 2006 she has received grant funding of £4.5M. She is currently supporting the development of an NHS-based 3D Clinical Imaging Laboratory, for improved clinical decision making. She has contributed to national and international committees, including Royal College Working Parties and Government advisory bodies and acts as advisor to several research programmes. She is an editorial board member of an international journal and is external examiner for the University of London (Kings College). In 2011 she was honoured with a Beacon Award for outstanding contribution to healthcare.


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Dr Michael Trenell, BSc, MSc, PhDNIHR Senior Research Fellow, Director of MoveLab, Newcastle [email protected] the role of physical activity, physical inactivity and exercise in ageing and age related diseases

Dr Trenell completed undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in applied science in Leeds in 1997 and 1999. Dr Trenell was then awarded an overseas scholarship from Sydney University, Australia, to complete a PhD in Biochemistry and Neurogenetics on the role of exercise as a therapy in neuromuscular disease. He completed research internships in respiratory medicine at the Woolcock Medical Research Institute and metabolic disease at the Garvan Institute. He then returned to the UK and to Newcastle University where he was awarded the RD Lawrence postdoctoral fellowship from Diabetes UK. He was appointed a Senior Research Fellowship from the NIHR in 2011 and is Director of MoveLab, one of the UK’s leading clinical physical activity and exercise laboratories.

Mike’s research looks at how metabolism can be improved in different metabolic disorders. The focus is on how physical activity and exercise can be used as clinical therapy in metabolic disorders, neuromuscular disease, ageing, and in promoting lifelong health and wellbeing. Mike has a strong background in multinuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging techniques and use these to investigate metabolism.

In January 2009 he established MoveLab with funding from the Medical Research Council with clinical colleagues in

Newcastle. The laboratory provides a complete translational research platform; building both the evidence base of movement as a clinical therapy and a pathway for delivery into care. At a basic science level, he has a program of studies investigating the interaction of physical inactivity, physical activity, and exercise upon molecular, genetic and metabolic function. At an intermediate level, he is addressing two key questions: what type of activity is best and how much is needed to use physical activity and exercise as a therapy? These studies are identifying the dose response of both resistance and aerobic exercise upon clinical outcomes. At a clinical delivery level, he is working with clinicians and patient groups to move these findings into clinical care. He is developing the UK’s first accredited professional and patient development pathway for physical activity and exercise for use as a clinical therapy in primary care.

Dr Trenell’s research is funded by the Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, the NHS, Research Councils UK, European Union FP7, Diabetes UK and pharmaceutical industry.

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Prof. Doug Turnbull, MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCP, FMedSciProfessor of Neurology and Director of Newcastle University Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality, Newcastle [email protected] disease

Dr Turnbull qualified in medicine in 1976 and completed his MRCP in June 1978. He was awarded an MRC Clinical Training Fellowship from 1980 to 1983 and a Lectureship in Experimental Neurology from 1983 to 1988 at Newcastle University. He became Senior Lecturer in Experimental Neurology in 1988 in the same University and Professor of Neurology in 1990.

He developed his interest in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation disorders during his PhD and initially was interested in establishing a clinical, biochemical and genetic diagnosis in patients. His more recent studies of mitochondrial disorders have been based on developing large cohorts of patients (currently funded by MRC as part of the MRC Centre for Neuromuscular diseases), understanding disease mechanisms, and developing methods to prevent transmission of mitochondrial DNA disease. He also led a successful effort to establish the NHS Highly Specialised Service for Rare Mitochondrial Disorders of Adults and Children, which has additional centres in London and Oxford. This service provides specialist diagnostic testing and multidisciplinary care for our patients throughout the UK and has made a tremendous difference to the lives of patients and families with mitochondrial disease.

He also has a major interest in the ageing process with a particular emphasis on the effects on neurons and muscle. He successfully led a bid for a Centre for Lifelong Health and Wellbeing (funded by BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and MRC). He is currently Director of this Centre – Newcastle University Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality.

He is a passionate believer in the training of young clinicians and scientists and has supervised 35 clinical and basic PhD students. He currently sponsors two Wellcome Trust Senior Fellows, one Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellow and one Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellow.


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Dr Aphrodite Vasilaki, BSc, PhDResearch into Ageing Fellow, University of [email protected] the causes of failed muscle regeneration during ageing and developing new approaches to treatment

Dr Aphrodite Vasilaki graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Molecular Biology from Liverpool John Moores University in 1999 and completed a PhD in the Department of Medicine and School of Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool in 2003. The aim of her PhD study was to characterise the extent and time course of production of antioxidant defence enzymes and heat shock proteins (HSPs) in adult and aged skeletal muscle following non-damaging isometric contractions and to examine the mechanisms responsible for the attenuation of the stress response in skeletal muscle during ageing. The completion of her PhD project led to a poster presentation at the Biochemical Society meeting in London where she was awarded first prize. In the same year, Aphrodite presented her PhD work at the Annual British Society for Research on Ageing Conference in London where she won a prize for best oral presentation.

Aphrodite undertook a five year postdoctoral position at the School of Clinical Sciences in the University of Liverpool investigating extracellular ROS generation in adult and old muscles from mice with deficient or enhanced antioxidant systems. This grant was funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and involved a collaboration between the University of Liverpool, University of Michigan, University of Texas and Emory University in the USA.

In 2006, Aphrodite was elected to the Executive committee of the British Society for Research on Ageing and served as the treasurer of the Society.

In 2009, Aphrodite was awarded a Personal Research Fellowship funded by Research into Ageing. The overall aim of this work is to determine whether the defective skeletal muscle regeneration that occurs during ageing is mediated through abnormal reactive oxygen species (ROS) activities in motor neurons and/or muscle cells which result in defective re-growth and interactions of motor neurons with immature regenerating muscle fibres. Her work involves in vitro studies to determine (i) the generation of specific ROS at defined sub-cellular sites in muscle cells and motor neurons during the normal process of myogenesis and (ii) the effects of modification of ROS generation in neurons or muscle on skeletal muscle regeneration and innervation. Her work also involves in vivo studies to identify the recovery of motor neuron occurring in young mice following a physiologically relevant form of skeletal muscle damage and the extent of failure in muscles of old mice.

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Marco VicecontiProfessor of Biomechanics at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield and Scientific Director of the Insigneo/Sheffield Research [email protected] and validation of medical technology, primarily in relation to musculoskeletal diseases

Marco Viceconti is Scientific Director of the Insigneo Institute for in silico Medicine and full Professor of Biomechanics at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield. Before he was the Technical Director of the Medical Technology Lab at the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute in Bologna, Italy. Prof. Viceconti has a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Bologna and a PhD from the University of Firenze. He started his research career under the guidance of Prof. Alì Seireg, first at the University of Florida-Gainesville, and then at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently President of the European Alliance of Biomedical Engineering (EAMBES). His main research interests are related to the development and validation of medical technology, especially that involving simulation, and primarily in relation to musculoskeletal diseases. He has published over 200 papers, mostly indexed in Medline, and serves as reviewer for many international funding agencies and peer-reviewed journals. Marco Viceconti is one of the key figures in the emerging Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) community. Co-author of the first white paper on VPH, scientific co-ordinator of the seminal VPH research roadmap, “VPH ambassador” for the

VPH Network of Excellence, Co-ordinator of one the VPHOP integrated project, he is also currently chairing the Board of Directors of the VPH Institute.


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Prof. John Wilding, DM FRCPProfessor of Medicine, Head of Department of Obesity and Endocrinology, University of Liverpool & Honorary Consultant Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation [email protected] obesity and diabetes

John Wilding is Head of the Department of Obesity and Endocrinology at the University of Liverpool, UK. He graduated in medicine from Southampton University in 1985, where he continued his clinical training until moving to the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital, London where he undertook specialist training in Diabetes and Endocrinology, and three years laboratory-based research into the neurobiology of obesity and diabetes. He has been clinical academic at the University of Liverpool, with a clinical base at Aintree Hospitals since 1996, initially as Senior Lecturer, then Reader and as Professor of Medicine since 2005.

His clinical and laboratory research focuses on the pathophysiology of obesity and its complications, especially diabetes, and evaluation of new treatments. This encompasses evaluation of novel therapeutic agents in animal models through to early and late phase clinical trials in humans and detailed physiological studies including measurements of appetite and metabolism including glucose clamp studies to evaluated insulin resistance in muscle and liver, and studies of the metabolic effects of obesity-associated respiratory disease

such as sleep apnoea and asthma. His work has been funded by the British Heart Foundation, Asthma UK, Diabetes UK, and the pharmaceutical industry.

He has published over a hundred and eighty papers, chapters and review articles related to his clinical and laboratory research interests in type 2 diabetes and obesity. He is a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Obesity, and of Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism and an Associate Editor of Diabetic Medicine. He is Chair of the UK National Clinical Research Network Metabolic and Endocrine Speciality Group and a past Chair of the UK Association for the Study of Obesity.

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Mr Mark Wilkinson, MB ChB, PhD, FRCS (Orth)Clinical Senior Lecturer in Orthopaedics, University of Sheffield; Honorary Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation [email protected] the causes of bone diseases associated with prosthetic joints and developing new approaches to their treatment

Mark Wilkinson graduated in Medicine from Sheffield University in 1991 and trained as an orthopaedic surgeon in North Trent and Wrightington. Whilst a specialist registrar in orthopaedics he received Clinical Research Fellowship awards from the Arthritis Research Campaign and from The Royal College of Surgeons of England and completed his PhD in 2001. Following a period in clinical practice he returned to Sheffield University upon receipt of a 5-year Clinical Senior Lectureship Award from HEFCE/UKCRC in 2007. Mark is also an honorary consultant in Orthopaedics with a specialist interest in hip and knee arthroplasty at the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield.

Mark’s principal research interests are in the field of joint replacement and its associated bone diseases from a genetic and metabolic standpoint. His previous work has shown that genetic polymorphism influences osteolysis and heterotopic ossification risk after hip replacement, and the first ‘in-man’ study to show that bisphosphonates may suppress bone loss after hip replacement. He is a member of the arcOGEN consortium that has recently identified 9 novel risk alleles for hip and knee osteoarthritis. His other areas of active research

include the identification of novel biomarkers and imaging techniques for detecting osteolysis, exploration of the molecular mechanisms that underpin its development and novel pharmacological strategies for its treatment, and the systemic health effects of metal ion exposure after hip resurfacing.

Mark has received young investigator awards from the Orthopaedic Research Society (2002 USA) and the National Osteoporosis Society (2000), The British Orthopaedic Association Robert Jones Gold Medal and Association Prize (2003), The British Hip Society McKee Prize (2001, and 2008) and the William Harris Award from the Orthopaedic Research Society (2007). He has co-authored more than 50 papers, and is a member of the Research Committee of the British Orthopaedic Association Arthritis Research UK, and is Orthopaedic Editor for the journal Surgery. His sources of research funding include HEFCE, Arthritis Research UK, the Cavendish Hip Foundation, and industry.

X-ray of hip joint prosthesis


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Dr Liz Williams, BSc, PhD, RNutrSenior Lecturer in Human Nutrition, Human Nutrition Unit, University of [email protected] the role of nutrition in healthy ageing

Dr Williams graduated with a BSc in Physiology from the University of Sheffield in 1992, and completed her PhD in the Department of Paediatrics in 1996. She spent three years as a postdoctoral researcher at the MRC Dunn Nutrition Unit in Cambridge prior to appointment as a lecturer in the Human Nutrition Research Centre at the University of Newcastle in 1999. In 2003 she returned to Sheffield as a lecturer in Human Nutrition and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2010.

Liz’s research focus is the role of diet in healthy ageing and diet in the prevention of chronic disease. She has particular interests in gastrointestinal health, immune function in older adults, and dietary assessment in older adults. Her long-standing research interest in diet and intestinal health has included work in collaboration with Professors Powers and Mathers on the ageing bowel, and has had a particular focus on colorectal cancer. This research has included investigation of proteomic and methylation biomarkers of colorectal cancer, and the role of butyrate and folate on colorectal carcinogenesis. She has considerable experience of designing and conducting randomised-controlled dietary/micronutrient intervention trials, including a number of studies with older adults. More recently

Liz has been working with a multidisciplinary team to develop a sensitively designed technology to improve assessment of nutrition, physical function, cognitive function and mental health in older adults, including measures commonly used to define a physically frail phenotype.

Liz’s research is funded by the ESRC-led cross Research Council, New Dynamics of Ageing Programme, the UK Technology Strategy Board and by the former UK Food Standards Agency.

Prof. Steve Winder, BSc, PhDProfessor of Molecular Cell Biology, Deputy Head of Department of Biomedical Science, University of [email protected] and molecular mechanisms of muscular dystrophies

Professor Winder graduated with a BSc in Applied Biology from Brunel University in 1984 and completed a PhD at the University of Reading in 1988. Professor Winder undertook post-doctoral training in the Department of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Calgary, Canada and in the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Awarded a four-year Welcome Trust Fellowship in 1995 Professor Winder relocated to the University of Edinburgh, Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology. Following a move to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Glasgow he was promoted to Reader and then in 2003 moved to the Department of Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield. He was promoted to Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Sheffield in 2005 and since 2006 has also been Deputy Head of the Department of Biomedical Science.

Steve’s principal research interest is in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for muscular dystrophies, particularly those associated with the dystrophin glycoprotein complex of which dystroglycan is an essential core component. We are using classical cell biological approaches to dissect the functions of dystroglycan as a

cell adhesion molecule and demonstrated the importance of tyrosine phosphorylation in regulating dystroglycan function and degradation in myoblasts and myotubes in culture. We have generated knock-in mice carrying mutations in tyrosine phosphorylation sites in dystroglycan and crossed these mice with an established mouse model of muscular dystrophy – the mdx mouse. Dystroglycan knock-in:mdx mice show a reduced muscular dystrophy phenotype, demonstrating the importance of tyrosine phosphorylation of dystroglycan in the aetiology of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The identification of signalling pathways involved in DMD has provided new therapeutic targets for the treatment of DMD for which we are currently screening to identify new combinatorial therapies using zebrafish. The combination of molecular cell biology with zebrafish and mouse models of disease provides a powerful approach to examine the roles of cell adhesion-mediated signalling and the contribution of the dystrophin glycoprotein complex in muscle integrity both in normal and dystrophic muscle.

Professor Winder’s research is funded by the Medical Research Council, Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, Association Française contres les Myopathies and Yorkshire Cancer Research.

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Dr Lang Yang, BSc, MSc, PhD, CSci, MIPEMLecturer in Biomechanics, University of [email protected] the biomechanics of healthy and diseased bone and how treatment affects it

Dr. Yang graduated from the Chongqing University, China with a BSc in Applied Mechanics in 1982 and MSc in Biomechanics in 1985. He obtained PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Strathclyde in 1988 and completed postdoctoral trainings at the University of Edinburgh, University of Dundee and University of Strathclyde. In 1996 Dr. Yang was appointed as non-clinical lecturer at the University of Sheffield.

Dr. Yang’s current research interests are quantifying the effects of osteoporosis and its treatment on bone geometry, bone tissue distribution and structure, and bone mechanical strength, with particular focus on the proximal femur and vertebra. Development of image processing and analysis methods for medical images is an essential part of his research, so does the structural engineering models generated from medical images. This has resulted in two streamlined analysis software, one for dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and another for quantitative computer tomography of the hip. He also interested in understanding how whole body vibration transmits in the body and how mechanical environment at fracture site modulates biological processes of fracture healing.

Dr. Yang is a charted scientist through the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and a member of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and European Calcified Tissue Society.

Dr. Yang’s research is funded by the MRC, NIHR and Arthritis Research UK.

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Dr David A Young, BSc, PhDDavid Young, Senior Lecturer, Musculoskeletal Research Group, Institute of Cellular Medicine, Newcastle [email protected] Cell Biology, Osteoarthritis and Ageing

Dr Young graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry from University of Sheffield in 1992 and completed a PhD at the world famous plant institute, the John Innes Centre, Norwich working on plant mitochondrial transcription. Dr Young undertook post-doctoral training in the Wellcome-Trust Centre for Cell Matrix Research at the University of Manchester working with Professors Gillian Wallis, Ray Boot-Handford and Michael Grant funded by the then arthritis research campaign working on chondrocyte gene expression and gene regulation. This was followed by several years of post-doctoral work with Professor Ian Clark, University of East Anglia. Dr Young joined Newcastle University in 2004 as a Lecturer and was appointed Senior Lecturer in 2010. In 2009 Dr Young was appointed Deputy Programme Director (projects), overseeing the placement and progression of around 130 MRes students/annum.

David’s research focus is around cartilage cell biology and the role of the sole cell type in cartilage, the chondrocyte in osteoarthritis (OA) and cartilage ageing. David’s expertise is in the area of cell signalling and gene regulation. Much of his work is focussed upon epigenetic changes in chondrocytes in

ageing, OA and in development (chondrogenesis). His group use in vivo and ex vivo models of cartilage destruction to replicate events occurring during OA.

Dr Young’s research is funded by Arthritis Research UK, JGW Patterson Foundation and the Nuffield Foundation.


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Prof. Thomas von Zglinicki, PhD, Dr nat.habilProfessor of Cell Gerontology, Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle [email protected] the mechanisms of cell senescence and its impact on mammalian ageing

Professor von Zglinicki graduated with a Diploma in Physics from Leipzig University in Germany in 1973 and completed a PhD in Biophysics at the same University in 1975. He undertook post-doctoral training in the Institute of Pathology at the Humboldt University in Berlin and received a Dr nat. habil. in Biophysics and Medical Physics there in 1987. In 2000, he relocated to Newcastle as Senior Lecturer to become a founding member of the basic biology branch of the Institute for Ageing and Health. He was appointed Professor of Cell Gerontology at Newcastle University in 2002.

Thomas’ principal research interest is in understanding the cellular and molecular signaling networks causing and maintaining cell senescence, and how these contribute to ageing at the level of tissues and organisms. He was the first to discover oxidative stress and resulting DNA damage as a major cause of telomere shortening, and the interactions between mitochondrial dysfunction and telomeres in senescence have been a focus of his work for many years. His recent work, combining classic reductionist biology with a systems biology approach, concentrates on the mechanistic understanding of the pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory senescent phenotype

beyond the proliferation arrest. His group discovered clear evidence for the existence of such a phenotype as part of the ageing process in postmitotic cells including neurons and muscle cells, which may lead to novel approaches in understanding muscular ageing.

Thomas is or was Editorial Board member on five of the most influential journals in the Ageing Biology field. He chaired the 2004 Gordon Research Conference on Biology of Ageing and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Ageing of the Mayo Clinic (USA) and other ageing research institutions. He has authored or co-authored over 160 papers on cell and molecular biology of ageing, some of which have been cited well over 400 times, resulting in an h-index of 40.

Thomas collaborates with major international groups, for instance in Germany (Ulm University), USA (Mayo Clinic) and the UK (Cambridge University). His work is funded by BBSRC, MRC, Wellcome Trust and the British Heart Foundation.

Contact detailsProfessor Malcolm J. Jackson PhD DSc FRCPathHead, Institute of Ageing and Chronic DiseaseFaculty of Health & Life SciencesUniversity of LiverpoolDuncan Building Daulby StreetLiverpool L69 3GA

T: +44 151 706 4072

F: +44 151 706 5802

E: [email protected]

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Photograph by Lindsay Mackenzie (2nd Runner Up - Newcastle University Student Competition)



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