All posts by Katarzyna

CHANGE annual meeting in Padova

Conferences, Musculoskeletal news

The final CHANGE MSCA DN meeting took place in Padova last week. It was great to see how far our students have advanced their research and how they developed into mature scientists driving their own program of research and building their own networks.

We are very proud of you all!

Thank you to Prof Paolo Bonaldo, Prof Paola Braghetta and Prof Matilde Cescon for organising a great meeting and looking after us all.

It is sad that this consortium is coming to an end but we hope to continue working with our European colleagues. We will eagerly follow the development of our DCs, and hope that they will be the next generation of matrix biologists leading the field in the future.

Registration is open for Genetics Matters 2026

Events, Genetics Matters, Musculoskeletal news

Registration for our annual hashtag#GeneticsMatters Rare Disease Day patient and public information day is now open. Join us for interesting presentations and hands-on demonstrations, meet the scientists, and find out more about rare disease research at Newcastle University and The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The event is FREE to attend and refreshments will be provided. To register, click: https://lnkd.in/eSSbGNSD

Merry Christmas from the Skeletal Research Group

Musculoskeletal news

We had our joint Briggs, Pirog, Reynard, Rice and Young groups Christmas meal yesterday in the wonderful My Delhi, and celebrated working together and the many dissertation, publication and grant successes of 2025. It has been a really productive year!

We’d like to wish all our friends and collaborators a wonderful festive break. We are looking forward to more exciting science, meetings and outputs next year!

Paper alert!

Musculoskeletal news, Publications

Our new collaborative paper detailing the role of mir140 in joint development has just been published in Osteoarthritis and Cartilage. This work was performed by Dr Yao Hao during his PhD candidature in the Skeletal Research group at Newcastle University.

Congratulations Yao!

BSMB Autumn 2025 meeting at the University of Surrey

Conferences, Musculoskeletal news

We’re back from a great meeting at the University of Surrey, organised by Dr Salvatore Santamaria and his team. It was an amazing meeting, with a very inspiring programme full of cutting edge technologies and new discoveries.

Roufaida presented a poster with her recent data on bone phenotype in our SEMDJL2 mice, and had several interesting discussions and suggestions.

The BSMB really is like a one big scientific family. A great society supporting its members and ECRs in a friendly environment. Until the next meeting! Manchester Spring 2026, we can’t wait!

Saying goodbye to João

Fun, Musculoskeletal news

João has finished his secondment in our lab this week. Over the course of 3 months he characterised the mechanical properties of his osteochondral plug system and investigated the role of oxidative and ER-stress in OA progression. Yesterday we went to Alnwick to see the castle and the famous bookshop and drove back to Newcastle along the scenic coastal route.

It was an absolute pleasure to host João in our lab!

We are looking forward to seeing the analysed data and to catching up with João at the next CHANGE annual meeting in January 2026.

Well done team!

Musculoskeletal news

Around this time of the year we are usually asked by our Institute and Theme leads to summarise our activities over the past 12 months. I have just submitted our outputs (below) and I wanted to say

Thank you all very much for being an excellent team, great friends and amazing scientists!

Here’s Pirog lab activity 07/2024-07/2025

Publications (research):

  • Farcasanu M*, de las Heras Ruiz T*, Johnson de Sousa Brito FM, Soul J, Coxhead J, German M, Young DA, Ferreira-Duarte A, Piróg KA. Dynamic compression improves chondrogenesis in the tissue engineered model of cartilage. Biotechnology and Bioengineering 2025; 122: 2574-2591.
  • Hayman DJ, Johnson de Sousa Brito FM, Lin H, Prior A, Charlesworth G, Hao Y, Pearson RD, Soul J, Clark IM, Piróg KA, Barter MJ, Van’t Hof RJ, Young DA. microRNA-324 mediates bone homeostasis and the regulation of osteoblast and osteoclast differentiation and activity. Bone, 2025; 190, 117273.
  • Gilbert SJ, Soul J, Hao Y, Lin H, Piróg KA, Coxhead J, Patel K, Barter MJ, Young DA, Blain EJ. Comparative transcriptomic analysis of articular cartilage of post-traumatic osteoarthritis mouse models. Dis Model Mech, 2024; 17(10): dmm050583.

Publications (reviews):

  • Bouchenafa R, Johnson de Sousa Brito FM, Piróg KA. Involvement of kinesins in skeletal dysplasia: a review. American Journal of Physiology: Cell Physiology 2024, 327(2), C278-C290.

Publications (book chapters):

  • Johnson de Sousa Brito FM, Bouchenafa R, Pearson RD, Piróg KA. Microtubule-associated motor proteins in skeletal development and health, 2024. In: Rossi, A., Zaucke, F. (eds) The Extracellular Matrix in Genetic Skeletal Disorders. Biology of Extracellular Matrix, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-70835-0_11.

Publications (conference proceedings):

  • Johnson de Sousa Brito FM, Pearson RD, Kalamajski S, Young DA, Piróg KA. Role of Asporin in chondroprotection. Int J Exp Path 2024;105:A1–A23
  • Bouchenafa R, Ben-Tiba E, Johnson de Sousa Brito FM, Piróg KA. Pro143Leu KIF22 mutation affect cartilage structure in the SEMDJL2 mice. Int J Exp Path 2024;105:A1–A23
  • Farcasanu M, de las Heras Ruiz T, Piróg KA. Dynamic mechanical compression improves the chondrogenic potential of ATDC5 and primary human chondrocytes in agar hydrogels. Int J Exp Path 2024;105:A1–A23

Grants:

  • MRC Drug repurposing for bone diseases (co-PI)

Prizes:

  • Anna Porter, Orthopaedic Trainee and PhD student in Pirog lab, won the prestigious Kreibich prize this year presenting her PhD project on tissue engineering approaches to investigate molecular mechanisms in hemiepiphysiodesis. Photo here: https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/piroglab/2025/07/07/congratulations-anna/
  • Roufaida Bouchenafa, PhD student in Pirog lab, received a bursary from the British Society for Matrix Biology to attend the Matrix Biology Europe meeting in Lyon in September 2024

Impact:

  • Kasia Pirog organised, contributed funding and presented (together with Roufaida Bouchenafa) at the annual Genetics Matters public engagement conference organised as part of the International Rare Disease Day and showcasing the activities of the Newcastle Centre for Rare Disease. With 65 attendees (local schools, general public, patients and patient organisations) and 30 enthusiastic scientists, a wonderful panel debate on achievements and challenges in rare disease research moderated by the NUCore Rare Disease Policy Manager Victoria Hedley, exciting hands-on experiments (building a 3D skin model, DNA extraction, osteoarthritis and chondrodysplasia diagnosis, muscle MRI scans, art installations and many more) and lovely food, the event was a great success. Event photos: https://www.tynesight.co.uk/ClientGalleries/Newcastle-University-Medical/02-03-25—Genetics-Event

Here’s to another amazing year ahead!