Expanding knowledge and improving outcomes

Dr Matthew Wilcox from UCL Centre for Nerve Engineering is a recipient of our Early Career Research Fellowship for his research into regenerative treatments for nerve injury and disease.

Computational models have been developed to measure the effect of material thickness and reinforcement design on stiffness of Ankle-Foot Orthosis (AFO) . This research project aims to translate this lab-based research into clinical practice.

Dr Elise Pegg, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bath and recipient of an ORUK Early-career Research Fellowship, aims to create a fully open-source finite element ankle model, including bones, ligaments, and cartilages, appropriate musculoskeletal loading for a standardised representation of ankle biomechanics and pre-clinical ankle joint analysis.

The team behind this research project aims to recruit a nationally representative cohort of patients receiving hip and knee replacements to track outcomes from procedures and facilitate clinical trials.

This three-year research study at the Davidson Lab at the University of East Anglia builds on earlier studies highlighting the importance of genetic variations called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and in particular the enzyme Matrix Metalloproteinase 14 (MMP-14), in the incidence and progression of Dupuytren's Disease.

Revision hip replacement, which involves a partial or a complete exchange of the prosthesis that was implanted during the original (‘primary’) surgery, is a complex procure and success rates vary widely. In this research project, funded by ORUK in partnership with the British Hip Society, the researchers analysed data from the National Joint Registry from 2011-2020.

This research project, co-funded by ORUK, Barts Charity, Versus Arthritis UK, Royal Society and Cancer Research UK, is analysing pain mechanisms along the Neuroimmune axis and aiming to establish whether there might be a pro-nociceptive role for neutrophils in causing Fibromyalgia-like pain.

Newcastle University Senior Lecturers in Bioengineering, Dr Ana Ferreira-Duarte and Dr Piergiorgio Gentile, are recipients of Orthopaedic Research UK’s Early Careers Research funding. They are developing an antibacterial coating for metallic orthopaedic implants to help fight against infections.