1st annual meeting of the CHANGE MSCA DN project in Vienna

Fun, Musculoskeletal news

We had a great time at the 1st Annual Meeting of the CHANGE project, organised in Vienna by Evercyte, one of our partners in the network. Vienna is an amazing city!

We had very productive 3 days talking about science, seeing the progress of our DCs, networking and training in public engagement, ethics, policy and EU regulations.

Our students have made great progress in their first year of PhD, made great friends in their network and during their secondments, acquired new skills and learnt a lot of techniques. They also presented at national and international conferences, engaged with patients and public, and contributed to book chapters and invited reviews.

We can’t wait to see what the second year brings. The next annual meeting will be in Krakow, can’t wait!

The 8th Genetics Matters was a great success!

Events, Genetics Matters, Musculoskeletal news

The Great Hall at the Discovery Museum was abuzz with science and exciting conversations last Sunday as Newcastle university researchers, rare disease patients and members of the public gathered to celebrate the International Rare Disease Day.

With 104 attendees and 40 enthusiastic scientists, a wonderful panel debate on achievements and challenges in rare disease research, exciting hands on experiments (building a 3D skin model, DNA extraction, osteoarthritis diagnosis, muscle MRI scans, art installations and many more) and lovely food, we had an amazing day!

We’d like to thank all the presenters and attendees for participating in our event. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did, and we hope to see you next year again!

Some feedback from our participants:

[The event] was great, no need for improvement!

Thank you for hosting such an amazing event!

Loved each and every bit.

Thank you for recommending this, I had a really great time! […] Everyone there was really nice and the activities were so fun

Many thanks to you all for giving your weekend to educate and entertain us.

A PhD position is available in the Skeletal Research Group at Newcastle

Musculoskeletal news, PhD studentships

Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells, Transplantation (RMSCT) are offering one PhD studentship in Stem Cell Biology for entry in September 2024. They will be supported by the Newcastle Fund. This is possible due to the generosity of an anonymous benefactor.

The studentship will be awarded in open competition. The studentship is available for projects in diverse areas of Stem Cell Biology. Established research leaders from across the University will supervise the studentship.

Each studentship provides:

  • a stipend (£18,622 p.a. for 2023/24)
  • standard home fees. Applications are welcome from students in all countries. Students from outside the UK will pay full international fees. International students may be eligible to apply for a Newcastle University Scholarship to cover the additional cost
  • a research allowance of £10,000 p.a.

To apply, visit: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/research-themes/regenerative-medicine/studentship/

Applications should be submitted by 29 February 2024

One of the 3 projects that are offered is:

3 – Using human pluripotent stem cells to understand how genetic variation and epigenetic changes increase osteoarthritis risk

Project outline

Osteoarthritis is a common debilitating musculoskeletal disease that affects over 9 million people in the UK, yet there are no drugs that slow disease progression. The disease is typified by loss of cartilage, the tissue which allows joints friction-free movement. Genetic risk loci, along with epigenetic changes, for Osteoarthritis occur predominately in non-coding regulatory regions of the genome, which control target gene transcription. Many of these risk loci are also linked to skeletal developmental and are associated with adult height and joint shape. However, we still need to identify the target genes of these osteoarthritis-associated regulatory regions to know how these contribute to joint formation and to increase our understanding of osteoarthritis susceptibility.


Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) can now be selectively differentiated in a process that recapitulates the developmental system of limb-bud formation to produce accurate articular pre-chondrocytes, cartilage cells. Importantly, hPSCs are amenable to genome-editing (CRISPR) and CRISPR-mediated gene regulation.


In collaboration with colleagues at the University of Manchester, the student will establish hPSC differentiation protocols and use these cells to generate a 3D genomic interaction map to utilise with established CRISPR-editing, CRISPR-gene-activator and CRISPR-gene-inhibitor systems to functionally define important osteoarthritis regulatory regions and effector genes.
This is an opportunity to work on a highly interdisciplinary project where a successful PhD student will learn fundamental molecular, cell biology and bioinformatic skills. Importantly, they will receive training in stem cell biology with a strong focus on aiming to improve clinical outcomes for patients with common and rarer skeletal diseases.

Supervisors

  1. David Young (david.young@ncl.ac.uk)
  2. Louise Reynard (louise.reynard@ncl.ac.uk)

We had a great time at our public engagement event at The Catalyst today

Events, Musculoskeletal news

The “Smart advances in ageing research” workshop was co-organised by Dr Kasia Pirog and Dr Tony Sorial and sponsored by The Dunhill Medical Trust and The Wellcome Trust. The event took place at The Catalyst, the home of the National Innovation Centre for Ageing and National Innovation Centre for Data. Participants included osteoarthritis patients from the DMT Working Group and from Voice Global, and members of the public.

The event consisted of 3 talks highlighting recent technology assisted achievements in aging research, by Dr Sorial (on developing a tissue engineered model to assist with personalised medicine approaches to OA treatment), Dr Pirog (on using genetic engineering to investigate the role of asporin in OA progression and uncover potential treatments), and a key note lecture by Prof Farshid Guilak from Washington University on future of osteoarthritis treatments. The presentations were followed by great discussion and round table demonstrations of wearables to measure mobility and activity in the older population (Dr Pantall’s lab), AI interventions for frailty in care homes and private homes (OpenLab), tissue engineering approaches to cartilage modelling (Pirog and Sorial groups), mouse models of cartilage ageing and disease (Pirog lab) and spatial transcriptomics to investigate cartilage degeneration (Young lab). Thank you everyone for participating!

Join us for the Black Box 3 unboxing on the 30th of November!

Events, Musculoskeletal news

It’s the official launch of the Black Box3 project!

BLACK BOX3: Unboxing invites artists and scientists at Northumbria University to present short 10-minute ‘unboxing’ talks: to share their research (or reveal their wildest research dreams), invite questions and solicit interdisciplinary relationships. The event includes talks and film screenings from two existing collaborative projects between the Arts and Applied Sciences at Northumbria University, ‘unboxing’ talks, an opportunity for discussion over a light lunch and coffee (provided), and a joint working session to establish an interdisciplinary film community at Northumbria where work can be shared through the BLACK BOX screening programme.

For more information, visit: https://www.cnosat10.com/black-box-3

Here’s the program of the unboxing event:

Our Black Box project gets a new lease on life with a permanent space at Northumbria University

Events, Fun, Musculoskeletal news

Exciting news! Our BLACK Box project is being continued as a permanent gallery space at Northumbria University!

BLACK BOX originated as a joint project by Louise Mackenzie from The Cultural Negotiation of Science and Kasia Pirog from the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University. Opening the door on the inner workings of scientific research, Black Box is a curated programme of film works inspired by and expanding upon scientific themes. The programme showcases films by artists and researchers involved in a creative and critical engagement with the broad spectrum of the sciences, alongside films produced by scientists that provide insight into their research.

BLACK BOX3 expands the BLACK BOX concept in relationship with the Department of Applied Sciences at Northumbria University to create an interdisciplinary cinema and micro-gallery on the 4th floor of Ellison Building, Northumbria University. Following an interdisciplinary working methodology, BLACK BOX3 provides space for artists and scientists to cultivate a working relationship based around shared interests, leading to an annual exhibition and film screening via the BLACK BOX3 gallery.

We will have an official launch event for the new space on the 30th of November 2023

Please hold the date and come see our new gallery then!

Meanwhile, here are some pictures looking back at the different iterations of the Black Box project:

February 2019 – Making the original Black Box:

February/March 2019 – Black Box pop-up cinema at the foyer of the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University:

March 2019 – Black Box and Women in Film and Science Festival at the Lit&Phil, Newcastle:

February 2020 – Black Box at Genetics Matters International Rare Disease Day event, Newcastle University:

April 2022 – Black Box 2 at the Edinburgh Science Festival: