Leeds researchers awarded major grants from arthritis charity
THREE leading Leeds researchers have been awarded grants of more than £400,000 to support separate studies onto different types of arthritis.
All three grants have been awarded by leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign, which currently funds research in Leeds to the tune of £2.5m.
Professor John Fisher in the University of Leeds' school of mechanical engineering has been awarded £130,522 for a three-year study into the degradation of articular cartilage, which leads to osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis, or OA, is a common, incurable joint condition which affects around 1.5m people in the UK.
Professor Fisher hopes to find out more about the degeneration of articular cartilage, and aims to come up with new ways of reducing friction and improving lubrication in synovial joints. OA is caused when cartilage, the smooth, slippery surface at the end of joints, wears away, leaving bones to rub together. His findings could be useful for the future development of tissue engineering, which involves growing new cartilage from an arthritis patient's own cells.
Dr Alice Lorenzi, rheumatology registrar at the Leeds Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Research Unit has a three-year Clinical Research Fellowship of £139,394 to study possible connections between the thymus gland and the development of lupus, an arthritic condition which affects younger women.
She is working on the theory that the thymus gland - a gland located close to the heart in the centre of the chest where some cells of the immune system develop - works abnormally in lupus patients. If her work provides evidence of a specific underlying defect of the thymus, it may suggest new ideas for future treatments.
Lupus sufferers - who are mainly women of child-bearing age - typically have joint pains, skin rashes and exhaustion, although it can also affect the body's internal organs, particularly the kidneys.
Dr Catherine Lawson in the molecular medicine unit at St James's Hospital has also been awarded a three-year Clinical Research Fellowship of £142,042 to study the role of a small group of white blood cells which play a part in the development of rheumatoid arthritis, a serious inflammatory joint disease. She will look at whether the cells are abnormal, either in number of function, in people who have recently developed the potentially crippling condition.
