Well done Marc, Thais and Fran!
Thank you to all involved and to the NC3Rs and JGW Patterson Foundation for funding.
Our new paper is out!
Circadian clock in cartilage
We heard a great talk by Dr Michal Dudek, a Research Fellow at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Matrix Research at the University of Manchester, discussing the interplay between circadian rhythm, mechanical loading, osmotic and heat stress in cartilage and intervertebral disc. Thank you Michal for visiting us and sharing your work!
Genetics Matters is 10 years old today!
We had a great event, with thought-provoking presentations, great discussion and interesting hands on tables and demonstrations.
Thank you to all the presenters, patients and attendees for giving up their Sunday and celebrating the International Rare Disease Day with us!
Together, we can move mountains.
Rare is many,
Rare is strong,
Rare is proud!
2nd annual meeting of the CHANGE MSCA DN
We had a great 2nd Annual Meeting of the CHANGE project 19th-21st of February 2025. It was a little bit cold, but Krakow is a beautiful city!
We had very productive 3 days talking about science, seeing the amazing progress our DCs have made, discussing science and future directions, and networking. We have also organised several training sessions: in biogerontology and detection of senescence (by Prof Johannes Grillari from our partner Evercyte), in ex vivo techniques and bioreactors (by Dr Linda Kock from Lifetec), in preclinical imaging (by Dr Marta Fabian from the University of Pavia) and in open science (by Dr Kasia Piróg from Newcastle University).
Our students have made great progress, completed many productive secondments, made great friends in their network and beyond, acquired new skills and learnt many new techniques. They also presented their data at national and international conferences, engaged with patients organisations and general public groups and events, and contributed to published book chapters, invited review publications, and original research papers.
We are extremely proud of our DCs and their achievements, and we can’t wait to see what the final year brings!
To find out more about our network, visit: https://change-msca.eu and follow us on BlueSky or on LinkedIn
Registration is now open for Genetics Matters!
To register, please use the QR on the poster below:
Saying goodbye to Fran
End of an era… We said goodbye to Francesca yesterday, after 5 years of working together.
Thank you for all your hard work and friendship over the years Fran. We’ll miss you!
Best of luck in your new job!
Our book chapter is published!
A great way to wrap up the year.
Well done Fran, Roufaida and Rachel!
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas from the Pirog and Briggs labs!
2024 was a very good year for the Pirog lab, with plenty to celebrate. Fran completed her project and generated lots of exciting data (watch this space for updates), Rachel successfully defended her PhD thesis (which we are now writing up into a paper!), Marc finished in the lab and started writing up his thesis, Anna generated a great set of preliminary data in the first year of her PhD, Gemma graduated from her MRes with a distinction, Maria made first great discoveries in her project, and Roufaida completed two secondments (one in Padova and one in Pavia) and generated data that will lead to publications and new investigation avenues. We also got MRC funding for an exciting project (led by Prof Mike Briggs and shared between Briggs, Pirog and Young labs) looking at drug repurposing for bone diseases, and we published two research papers, a book chapter and a review.
Well done everyone, and thank you very much for all your hard work and for all the fun times together. I have been very lucky to be able to work with all of you. Wishing you all a lovely Christmas break, and all the best in 2025! Kasia
The 9th edition of Genetics Matters will take place on the 2nd of March 2025
Our flagship rare disease event is back!
A fun day of science, with hands on experiments, patient and scientist talks, and an opportunity to learn and network, Genetics Matters has become a feature in the North east’s rare disease calendar. Join us on the 2nd of March to celebrate rare diseases and rare disease research in the North East, share your experiences, and find out more about rare diseases.
It’s graduations again!
A huge congratulations to all students graduating this winter, which included a few of our Skeletal Research group students from Pirog, Rice and Reynard labs. Well done everyone, and thank you for all your hard work!
And special congratulations to Gemma Farquhar who was our MRes student this year. Gemma graduated with distinction, and moved on to an exciting job with a Molecular Diagnostics group in Cambridge. Unfortunately due to the workload she couldn’t attend the ceremony today so we took this picture to send her virtual congratulations instead.
Well done Gemma, and all the best in the future from the SRG team!