As well as boosting broader understanding of conditions affecting the skeleton, the grant will allow Dr Staines to develop and utilise new imaging technology to specifically understand what happens to knee joints in osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis causes significant pain and disability to millions of people, yet still lacks effective personalised treatment – a situation Dr Staines hopes to improve, building on growing musculoskeletal research within her own school and Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS).
Dr Staines said: “In osteoarthritis, joints undergo structural deterioration. Current osteoarthritis treatments are limited, however, and we are unable to identify those at risk of developing osteoarthritis. This study aims to identify whether the way in which you grow during childhood and adolescence defines the health of your joints in later life. My research will also use our newly developed imaging method to investigate what happens to the different structures in knee joints in osteoarthritis.”