Cambridge scientists awarded grants for cutting-edge work
SCIENTISTS at the forefront of research into soft tissue rheumatism have been awarded a major grant of £110,000 by leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign.
The cash will give a further boost to a team of experts, who have recently formed the Soft Tissue Injury and Repair Group at Addenbrooke's Hospital's Rheumatology Research Unit.
The group, formed earlier this year, aims to promote basic scientific research into the causes and treatment of soft tissue rheumatism, which affects tissues such as tendons and ligiaments.
The unit, established by Dr Brian Hazleman in 1974 has a reputation as one of the leading centres of this particular type of rheumatic disease, which affects both old and young, the athletic and non-athletic.
The latest award by the ARC will support the work of Dr Stephen Fenwick, who joined the group last year from the University of Leicester.
He is investigating the cell biology of human tendons and the role of a special protein called transforming growth factor beta, in tendon injury and repair.
Tendons connect muscle to bone and are a major site of injury and a common cause of painful joint disease. The protein is produced or activated after tendon injury and has different forms and possibly different roles in the repair process.
The team aim to find out more about the protein in the hope that drugs can be developed to control its activity, and help improve the repair of damaged tendons.
Dr Graham Riley, of Addenbrooke's, said the grant would underpin the work done by the unit, and help to maintain its position as one of the leading centres for the treatment and study of soft tissue rheumatism.
- Dr Roger Williams of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge has been awarded a grant of £68,778 by the ARC for research into what triggers the inflammatory response in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
