Current projects

We are part of the collaborative EPSRC funded project at Newcastle University aiming to develop a smart injectable biomaterial to deliver therapeutic cells to actively repair cartilage by mimicking natural healing processes triggered by movement, delivering local immunomodulatory treatments and stimulating cartilage cells to grow and repair the damaged tissue.

Grant awarded: 2026-2029 PRISM: Piezo-Regulated Immunomodulatory Smart Matrix (lead PI: Dr Ana Ferreira-Duarte, co-I: Dr Katarzyna Pirog, Prof Catharien Hilkens, Dr Priscila Melo, Prof Matthew Dalby (University of Glasgow), Dr Massimo Vassalli (University of Glasgow), Dr March Birch (Cambridge University))

We are part of the collaborative MRC funded project at Newcastle University which aims to validate new treatments and generate pre-clinical data on drug repurposing through primary cell work and treatment and deep phenotyping of three genetically engineered mouse models of skeletal dysplasia.

Grant awarded: 2025-2028 Drug repurposing in skeletal bone diseases (lead PI: Prof Michael Briggs, co-I: Dr Katarzyna Pirog, Prof David Young, named PDRA: Dr Ella Dennis)

The JGW Patterson Foundation have kindly sponsored this exciting proof-of-principle research project in which we are planning to optimise several nanoparticle formulations to create a novel drug delivery system for delivery of microRNA and/or siRNA treatments directly to the articular cartilage for therapeutic treatment of osteoarthritis and other cartilage-related conditions.

Grant awarded: 2026-2027 (lead PI: Dr K Pirog, co-Is: Dr Randa Zoqlam (UCL)

We are sharing our tissue engineering expertise in this exciting project exploring the aggregation potential of different bovine muscle progenitor cells and possibility of bioreactor scale-up. The work is a collaboration between Newcastle University, the University College London (UCL) and the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA).

Grant awarded: 2024-2027 (lead PI: Dr Katarzyna Pirog, co-I: Dr Leonardo Rios Solis (UCL), Dr Rosario Romero (FERA))

In this innovative project, kindly funded by the Ulverscroft Foundation, we are applying our tissue engineering expertise in collaboration with a medical doctor and a hydrogel expert to develop novel clinical applications for improving corneal healing using engineered hydrogel formulations for modulation of inflammatory responses in the wounded corneal tissue.

Grant awarded: 2023-2026 (lead PI: Dr Katarzyna Pirog, co-I: Dr Ricardo Gouveia, named researcher: Cagla Erdas (MD))

Horizon Europe MSCA project CHANGE (Cellular Homeostasis ANd AGing in Connective TissuE Disorders) unites 10 universities and 5 companies across Europe to provide PhD training and knowledge transfer needed to increase our capacity to study molecular pathways, mechanisms and multimorbidities in rare and common musculoskeletal conditions.

Grant awarded: 2022-2026 HORIZON-MSCA-2021-DN-01 CHANGE (101072766; Newcastle PIs – lead PI: Dr Katarzyna Pirog also as work package lead (WP6), co-I: Prof M Briggs)

Main achievements:

Collaborative networks:

ECMage is a national research network funded in 2022 by the UKRI investigating healthy ageing of extracellular matrix. The ECMage network brings together expertise in key aspects of ageing, matrix biology, chronobiology, computational modelling and tissue engineering across UK to develop novel models to study ECM ageing. We are part of this exciting network which supports connective tissue aging research collaborations across the UK.

CHANGE is an international doctoral training network funded by Horizon Europe as part of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MSCA). It unites 10 European universities and 5 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with the aim to uncover molecular mechanisms in connective tissue ageing and disease. We are partners in this project, with training exchanges with the University of Padova, University of Pavia and LifeTec Group in Eindhoven.