Today our very own Dr Vanessa Benjamin received the Global Marine Excellence Award at the Caribbean Global Awards, recognized for “outstanding contributions, leadership and dedicated service to the advancement and sustainability of marine ecosystems in the Caribbean and beyond.” This achievement reflects over two decades of dedication as a marine biologist in The Bahamas, alongside Vanessa’s recent work as a tissue engineer pioneering research in cell-cultivated seafood and marine collagen, and as Founder & CEO of Cobo Biosolutions.

Well done and very well deserved!

Great progress on our NC3Rs/BBSRC funded Business Interaction Voucher Award with Copner Biotech! Amazing work done by Snigdha Basak, optimising the bath and the inks for embedded bioprinting of fine structures, with the aim to bioprint the zonal complexity of cartilage ECM. At our first trial we could print lines but they were not holding shape over time and printing resulted in some drag due to low thixotropic properties of the bath (left panel). Now, we can print really fine lines into our optimised bath (right panel). The lines hold shape over time, and the live/dead assays show that the bath is supporting the cells with or without crosslinking. One month left on the project, watch this space!

We had a great British Society for Matrix Biology (BSMB) Committee meeting at the Shrigley Hall in Cheshire last week, planning the future meetings and the Society activities in the next few years. We have great meetings coming up with the BSMB Spring meeting in Southampton opening for registration and abstracts next month. Bursaries have been increased in the funds given per application and are available for all extracellular matrix related national and international meetings, so please apply!

Today’s picture from the fun in the lab series, Maria’s spinning organoids. So cool!

On the 10th of February 2026 Maria Lazari and Kasia Pirog attended the FSA and FERA Science commissioned consultation event, looking at the risks and mitigation of genetic drift in cultivated meat products. Twenty-two experts were invited from various professional sectors: academia, CCP industry, biomedical, regulatory/consulting.

A report combining a review of the literature and results of the expert elicitation event has now been published on the FSA Research and Evidence website (https://doi.org/10.46756/001c.165033) and can be accessed via the link below.

How Does Genetic Drift Impact the Safety of Cell-Cultivated Products? | Published in FSA Research and Evidence

Roufaida’s chondrogenesis and osteogenesis experiments are cooking!

At the end of July we are usually asked by our Theme lead to submit our activities and achievements over the past 12 months. A lot has happened in the Pirog lab in 2025/26. We had excellent MRes and BSc students this year, we generated great outputs, travelled to several conferences, won a few funding awards, and organised a fun events. None of this would be possible without a great team!

Here are the Pirog lab outputs for 2025/2026:

Publications:

• Hao Y, Lin H, Soul J, Overman LM, Lisgo SN, Coxhead J,  Pirog KA,  Clark IM, Barter MJ,  Reynard LN, Young DA. Transcriptomic profiling confirms microRNA-140 is more functional in cartilage development than osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joca.2025.11.005.

Conference proceedings:

• Bouchenafa R, de Sousa Brito F, Gioia R, Forlino A, Pirog KA. p.Pro148Leu KIF22 mutation affects bone structure and properties in a knock-in mouse model of SEMDJL2. In: Santamaria S. BSMB Autumn Meeting Abstracts: Uncovering the Matrisome-Advances and Trends in Matrix Research, September 2–3, 2025, University of Surrey, UK. Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry. 2026;74(4):477-492, doi:10.1369/00221554261448876
• Erdas C, Gouveia R, Connon C, Pirog K. Growth factor priming differentially regulates ECM remodelling and myofibroblast transition in corneal stromal cells. In: Dyer D. BSMB Spring Meeting Abstracts: ECM Biology Across Tissue Sites—Location, Location, Location, April 13–14, 2026, University of Manchester, UK. Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry. 2026;74(4):493-514. doi:10.1369/00221554261448877

Conference presentations:

• 02-03/09 BSMB Autumn meeting, Surrey – R Bouchenafa (poster)
• 13-14/04 BSMB Spring meeting, Manchester, C Erdas (poster)
• 21-24/04 TERMIS Europe meeting, Palma Mallorca, C Erdas (poster and session chair)
• 22/06 NC3Rs NAMs network meeting, London, K Pirog (invited speaker)
• 29/06-04/07 Matrix Biology Europe (MBE), Oulu Finland, C Erdas (selected talk), R Bouchenafa (poster), M Lazari (poster)

Funding:

• 2026-2029 EPSRC “PRISM: Piezo-Regulated Immunomodulatory Smart Matrix” (K Pirog as co-I and WP lead)
• 2026-2027 JGW Patterson Foundation “Optimising nanoparticle delivery system for therapeutic gene silencing in the arthritic joint” (K Pirog as lead)
• 2026 NC3Rs/BBSRC Business Interaction Voucher “Novel bioprinting technologies for engineering of compressible zonally stratified cartilage tissue for study of therapeutic interventions” (K Pirog as lead)
• 2026 C Erdas BSMB Presenter Bursary to attend MBE meeting in Oulu
• 2026 M Lazari and R Bouchenafa Doctoral College award to attend MBE meeting in Oulu

Engagement:

• 02/03 K Pirog organised and coordinated the 10^th edition of “Genetics Matters-Rare Disease Day” PPIE event at the Great North Museum Hancock, C Erdas and M Lazari presented their projects, 100+ attendees (local schools, general public, patients and patient organisations) and presenters
• 17/11 K Pirog presented a seminar entitled “Drug repurposing for rare diseases” for the Explore Lifelong Learning public group
• June 2026 K Pirog coordinated  genetics seminar series for the Explore Lifelong Learning public group
• 16/06 K Pirog presented a seminar entitled “Deciphering the molecular mechanisms of osteoarthritis” for the Explore Lifelong Learning public group

Well done everyone, and thank you for all your hard work.

Here’s to another amazing year ahead!