Norwich researchers awarded major grant by arthritis charity
RESEARCH in East Anglia into the crippling condition of arthritis has been given a major boost with the award of a grant of £202,619 by the Arthritis Research Campaign.
Dr Ian Clark at the University of East Anglia's school of biological sciences has been awarded a three-year Post Doctoral Research Fellowship which will enable him to continue his long-term work into the enzymes that destroy cartilage.
The grant brings the ARC's total funding of arthritis research in UEA to almost £2m, and consolidates Norwich's reputation as a leading centre for work into rheumatological disease. More than nine scientists at UEA are funded by the charity.
Dr Clark's special field of interest is matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), enzymes which destroy cartilage in the joint, and which are usually held in balance by a group of inhibitors called TIMPs. In diseases such as arthritis, the balance no longer holds, the MMPs take the upper hand, and the joint is destroyed.
Researchers are investigating the ways in which the TIMPs block the action of the MMPs in order to allow the design of new drugs which will do the same. The first drugs which block MMP action are currently being clinically tested – with sponsorship from a drugs company – and Norwich is one of the centres chosen for the trial. Patients at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital are now being recruited.
"Around the world – in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia – there are teams working on this research line," added Ian Clark. "The ultimate aim is to look for new drug targets, and stop the progression of the disease."
