Lancaster scientists awarded major grant from arthritis charity
SCIENTISTS in Lancaster have been awarded a major grant of nearly £100,000 by medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign for their work on cartilage.
Ian Nieduszynski, Professor of Connective Tissue Biochemistry at the University of Lancaster's biological sciences department, will head up a team which will spend the next two years investigating the changes in cartilage which lead to osteoarthritis.
Cartilage is the strong material on the ends of bones which acts as a shock absorber, and its slippery surface allows smooth movement between bones. In osteoarthritis, which affects around 1.5m people in the UK, the healthy cartilage protecting the joint surfaces wears away, leaving bone ends to rub together against each other. It leads to pain and stiffness in the joints, and sometimes deformity.
"Cartilage is a very complex tissue and we are working hard with the ARC to understand how it works," explained ARC Post Doctoral Research Fellow Bob Lauder, who is based in the department of biological sciences.
"It is non-cellular and made up of two main molecules, both of which have several parts to them. We are concentrating on one of these molecules, and we want to find out how the parts are held together, and what it that stops them falling apart. We know that as we get older some of the parts change and this may weaken the molecule, but we don't have all the details yet.
"Once we know what's going on in normal cartilage as we get older we can start to look at what's going on in the disease, and we'll really understand the difference we see. Perhaps there are different changes in different people. This is crucial for us to understand so that we can help to provide the best treatments for this crippling condition.
"This grant will really make a difference in our fight to understand this terrible disease."
