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Research project

Establishment of a National Network on Musculoskeletal Ageing

Project overview

Our overall aim is to establish a new national network which will underpin a step change in musculoskeletal ageing research capacity and strategy, by identifying: key tractable research priorities; developing an integrated multi-disciplinary grouping to address the identified research gaps; providing a platform to disseminate best practice; supporting Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to build research capacity and ensure longevity to current UKRI investments; and coordinating an ongoing programme of innovative studies to identify, develop and translate findings from our discovery science to clinical impact. Crucially the network will contribute to delivering the government Grand Challenge target of 5 more years of independent living by 2035, by identifying approaches to maintain mobility in old age. The network will bring together the scientific excellence of the three principal applicants. Focusing on the leading chronic non-communicable disorders of bone, muscle and joint (osteoporosis, sarcopenia, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis), the integration of these groups will galvanize a truly bench to bedside approach to provide a strong evidence base for health policy, underpinning a step change in UK musculoskeletal ageing research capability/capacity, and promoting increased healthspan.

Staff

Lead researchers

Professor Cyrus Cooper

Prof Rheumatology Clinical Epidemiology
Research interests
  • Key research contributions have been:
  • discovery of the developmental influences which contribute to the risk of osteoporosis and hi…
  • demonstration that maternal vitamin D insufficiency is associated with sub-optimal bone miner…
Connect with Cyrus

Email: cc@mrc.soton.ac.uk

Other researchers

Professor Nicholas Harvey

Director/Professor
Research interests
  • Lifecourse epidemiology of osteoporosis and fragility fractures
  • Understanding mechanism and development of novel interventions across lifecourse to prevent f…
Connect with Nicholas

Email: nch@mrc.soton.ac.uk

Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups

Research outputs

Telomere Length and Risk of Incident Fracture and Arthroplasty
Elizabeth Curtis, Veryan Codd, Christopher Nelson, Stefania D'angelo, Qingning Wang, Elias Allara, Stephen K. Kaptoge, Paul M. Matthews, Jonathan H. Tobias, John Danesh, Cyrus Cooper, Nilesh J. Samani & Nicholas Harvey, 2022, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 37(10), 1997-2004
DOI: 10.1002/jbmr.4664
Type: article
Adjusting conventional FRAX estimates of fracture probability according to the number of prior fractures
John A. Kanis, Helena Johansson, Nicholas C Harvey, Vilmundur Gudnason, Gunnar Sigurdsson, Kristin Siggeirsdottir, Mattias Lorentzon, Enwu Liu, Liesbeth Vandenput & Eugene V. McCloskey, 2022, Osteoporosis International, 33(12), 2507-2515
DOI: 10.1007/s00198-022-06550-4
Type: article
Automatic segmentation of hip osteophytes in DXA scans sing U-nets
Raja Ebsim, Benjamin Faber, Fiona R. Saunders, Monika Frysz , Jennifer S. Gregory, Nicholas Harvey, Jonathan H. Tobias, Claudia Lindner & Timothy Cootes, 2022
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-16443-9_1
Type: conference
Multimodal multidisciplinary management of patients with moderate to severe pain in knee osteoarthritis
Nicola Veronese, Cyrus Cooper, Olivier Bruyère, Nasser M Al-Daghri, Jaime Branco, Etienne Cavalier, Sara Cheleschi, Mario Coelho da Silva Rosa, Philip G Conaghan, Elaine M Dennison, Maarten de Wit, Antonella Fioravanti, Nicholas R Fuggle, Ida K Haugen, Gabriel Herrero-Beaumont, Germain Honvo, Andrea Laslop, Radmila Matijevic, Alberto Migliore, Ali Mobasheri, Jean-Pierre Pelletier, María Concepción Prieto Yerro, Régis Pierre Radermecker, François Rannou, René Rizzoli & Jean-Yves Reginster, 2022, Drugs, 82(13), 1347-1355
DOI: 10.1007/s40265-022-01773-5
Type: article
Machine learning–derived acetabular dysplasia and cam morphology are features of severe hip osteoarthritis
Monika Frysz , Benjamin G. Faber, Raja Ebsim, Fiona R. Saunders, Claudia Lindner, Jennifer S. Gregory, Richard M. Aspden, Richard M. Aspden, Nicholas C. Harvey, Tim Cootes & Jon H. Tobias, 2022, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 37(9), 1720–1732
DOI: 10.1002/jbmr.4649
Type: article
Is regular weight bearing physical activity throughout the lifecourse associated with better bone health in late adulthood?
Jean Zhang, Camille Parsons, Nicholas Fuggle, Kate Ward, Cyrus Cooper & Elaine Dennison, 2022, Calcified Tissue International, 111(3), 279-287
DOI: 10.1007/s00223-022-00995-9
Type: article
Management of hand osteoarthritis: from an US evidence-based medicine guideline to a European patient-centric approach.
Nicholas Fuggle, Nathalie Bere, Olivier Bruyere, Mario M Rosa, María Concepción  Prieto Yerro, Elaine Dennison, Fitnat Dincer, Cem Gabay, Ida K. Haugen, Gabriel Herrero-Beaumont, Mickaël Hiligsmann, Marc C. Hochberg, Andrea Laslop, Radmila Matijevic, Emmanuel Maheu, Alberto Migliore, Jean-Pierre Pelletier, Regis Pierre Radermecker, Francois Rannou, Brigitte Uebelhart, Daniel Uebelhart, Nicola Veronese, Mila Vlaskovska, René Rizzoli, Ali Mobasheri, Cyrus Cooper & Jean-Yves Reginster, 2022, Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 34(9), 1985-1995
DOI: 10.1007/s40520-022-02176-y
Type: review