Supervisor View Full Details

• cell and developmental biology/regenerative medicine

• Medicine
• Surgery
• Sports and Exercise Medicine

• Orthopaedic surgery
• Rheumatology
• Vascular Medicine

Rapid progress over the last two decades in the isolation and biological characterization of stem cells has placed them at the forefront of current efforts in regenerative medicine. Stem cells represent an important element in regenerative strategies for tissue repair by virtue of their availability in large numbers, relative ease of preparation and capacity to differentiate into specific tissue types. Pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESC) have extraordinary potential in terms of tissue repair involving all germ lines. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated by reprogramming of human somatic cells have a similar, although not identical, phenotype to ESCs. Our work is concerned with (1) assessing the therapeutic utility of stromal cell or stem cell transplantation in selected diseases, mainly musculoskeletal conditions, (2) using iPSC as cellular models of disease and (3) understanding the phenotype, regulation and control of human and animal stem cells.

Potential projects:
1. Development of a gene therapy strategy for treatment of avascular necrosis of the hip, involving validation of animal model and controlled therapeutic studies.
2. Use of induced pluripotent stem cells as cellular models for osteoarthritis and other bone and joint diseases. This involves generation of patient-specific iPSC, the study of their differentiation to a bone and cartilage lineage and potentially testing of therapeutic biomolecules in in vitro models.
3. Clinical trial of cellular therapy for knee osteoarthritis. This will involve participating in management of a phase 2b clinical trial with specific attention to either patient immunomonitoring or assessment of disease biomarkers.