COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH

Collaborative research

Australian and international collaborative research projects
Information regarding contractual research

In recent years collaborative projects with other Institutes and national and international companies have been established to promote the outcomes of our research and facilitate its commercialization.

The Institute welcomes all inquires of collaborations for groups working in the area of musculoskeletal sciences.

AUSTRALIAN and INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTS

Associate Professor Christopher Little with Professor John Bateman, University of Melbourne, Vic. Analysis of genome wide microarray and proteomic comparison of articular cartilage with the onset and progression of osteoarthritis in mice. NHMRC project grant 2006-8. Publications arising = 2 (including #1 ranked arthritis journal : Arthritis and Rheumatism); two further papers submitted; Presentations = 6

Associate Professor Christopher Little with Associate Professor Amanda Fosang, University of Melbourne, Vic. Investigation of aggrecan and collagen destruction in cartilage in arthritis. Joint NHMRC project grants in 2005-7 and 2006-8. Generate genetically modified mice. Shared PhD student (awarded 2008), Publications arising = 6 including high impact journals Nature (2005), J Clin Invest (2007), Nature Reviews (2008); 2 further papers submitted; Presentations = 15.

Associate Professor Christopher Little with Dr Clare Hughes, Cardiff University, UK. Investigation of proteolysis of cartilage in arthritis. Ongoing sharing of reagents including novel antibodies. Publications arising = 3 including #1 ranked arthritis journal (Arthritis and Rheumatism) in 2007; Presentations = 6.

Associate Professor Christopher Little and Dr James Melrose with Professor Peter Roughley, McGill University, Montreal Canada. Investigation of proteolysis of small proteoglycans in human musculoskeletal tissues. Ongoing sharing of reagents including novel antibodies. Publications arising = 2, presentations arising = 16.

Associate Professor Christopher Little, Dr Margaret Smith with Dr Hala Zreiqat, Sydney University, Biomedical Engineering, School of AMME. Investigation of S100 proteins in cartilage degradation and cartilage tissue engineering techniques. Publications arising = 1 in review, presentations arising = 4.

Associate Professor Christopher Little, Dr Margaret Smith with Professor Roger Smith, Royal Veterinary College, UK. Investigation of the effects of mechanical loading and stem cells on tendon degeneration and repair. Share samples and technology; PhD student to visit UK and undertake collaborative experiments. Publications arising = in preparation, presentations arising = 0.

Associate Professor Christopher Little, Dr Margaret Smith, Dr James Melrose with Associate Professor Andrew Dart, Sydney University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Large animal models of tendon injury and intervertebral disc degeneration. Shared Honors student (2008); Publications arising = 2, presentations arising = 9; further publications in preparation.

Associate Professor Christopher Little, Dr Margaret Smith, Dr James Melrose with Professor Rick Read and Dr Martin Cake, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Murdoch University, WA. Large animal models of osteoarthritis. Long-term collaboration with shared Honours students, PhD students; successful NHMRC and industry funded grants. Publications arising = 12, presentations arising = >20.

Dr James Melrose with Prof. J. Whitelock, Dr S. Knox, Dr M Lord, Ms C Chuang, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, University of NSW and Prof Renato Iozzo, John Hopkins University, USA. Assessment of the sub-structure, adhesive properties and growth factor binding capabilities of perlecan immunopurified from a range of cell sources including intervertebral disc cells and immunolocalisation of perlecan in tensional and weight bearing connective tissues. Publications arising = 12, presentations arising = 38

Dr James Melrose, Mr D Burkhardt, Associate Professor Christopher Little with Prof TKF Taylor, Royal North Shore Hospital, Prof C Dillon, University of Wollongong, Prof R Read and Dr M Cake, Murdoch University, Perth Australia. A multidisciplinary study to elucidate an ovine model of intervertebral disc calcification (hydroxyapatite deposition disease). Publications arising = 1, presentations arising = 12

Dr James Melrose and Associate Professor Christopher Little with Assoc Prof R Moore, Prof. B. Vernon Roberts, Dr. R. Fraser, Dr S. Gronthos, and Dr A. Zannetino , University of Adelaide. The use of stem cells to promote intervertebral disc repair. Publications arising = 0, presentations arising = 1

Dr James Melrose with Dr. M. Gibson, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Pathology, Adelaide University, Adelaide, SA, and Dr Anthony Hayes, Director BioImaging Unit, Dept of Biosciences, University of Cardiff, Wales, UK. Immunolocalisation of fibrillin and elastic microfibrillar components in tensional and weight bearing connective tissues. Publications arising = 1, presentations arising = 12

Dr James Melrose with Prof N. Broom, University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Dr R. Appleyard, Murray Maxwell Biomechanics Laboratory, Royal North Shore Hospital. Validation of a modified high throughput ovine annular lesion model of intervertebral disc degeneration. Publications arising = 0, presentations arising = 4

Dr James Melrose, Associate Professor Christopher Little with Professor Tony Weiss, (University of Sydney, NSW, Australia) and Professor John Whitelock and Dr Megan Lord (University of NSW, Australia). Elucidation of the interactive properties of perlecan with tropoelastin which promote co-acervation and its application in elastin construct designed as vascular grafts and artificial blood vessels. Publications arising = 0 presentations arising = 0

Dr James Melrose with Professor Bruce Caterson, Cardiff University, UK. Investigation of proteolysis of small proteoglycans in human musculoskeletal tissues. Ongoing sharing of reagents including novel antibodies. Publications arising = 1, presentations arising = 8.

Dr James Melrose,Associate Professor Christopher Little, Dr Richard Appleyard with Dr Tony Hayes, Cardiff University, UK and Professor John Whitelock University of NSW, Australia. The role of perlecan in tensional tissues. Confocal microscopic analysis of tensional connective tissues. Ongoing sharing of reagents including novel antibodies. Successful NHMRC project grant application – funding commenced 2008. Publications arising = 1, presentations arising = 12

Dr Margaret Smith with Professor Nicolai Miosge, Department of Prosthodontics, University of Goettingen, Germany. International co-operative to share real time PCR primers and to investigate changes in gene expression in disease. Publications arising = 1, presentations arising = 0.

Dr Margaret Smith with Adam Woodbridge, Andrew Stephens and Nigel Hope of the Orthopaedic Department at Sydney Adventist Hospital, Sydney. Aetiological trends in sports knee injuries in Northern Sydney. Publication submitted 2008

Dr Richard Appleyard, Ms Joanna Peterson and Mr Umair Ansari, Dr Richard Lawson and Prof Michael Tonkin of the RNSH Hand Surgery Unit. Investigation on the mechanical integrity of various tendon suturing techniques. Ongoing collaboration, Publications

Dr Richard Appleyard, Helen Mccarthy and Prof Charles Archer, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University: Large animal model of articular cartilage regeneration using engineered scaffolds. International collaboration with publications.

Dr Richard Appleyard, Dr Mark Gillies, Dr Jade Gan, Dr Dane Dabirrahmani and Mr Shane Donahoo, WorleyParsons Pty Ltd: A close working relationship has also been formed with the WorleyParsons Advanced Analysis Group Pty Ltd. This industrial arm provides access to computation modelling including Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computation Fluid Mechanics (CFM). Current biomechanical research projects undertaken include; design of a femoral head resurfacing prosthesis; accelerated corrosion analysis of a total hip replacement; friction properties between bone and various implant surface coating; instrumented hammer for assessing strike force during total hip implantation; measurement of femoral bone cortical strain around a total hip stem; finite element analysis (FEA) of bone fracture around a total hip stem. Long-term collaboration with publications

Dr Richard Appleyard and the North Clinical Skills Centre (NCSC), Royal North Shore Hospital. A number of anatomical skills workshops have been undertaken in collaboration with the NCSC. These workshops allow medical registrars and consultants to hone their surgical skills on cadaveric human tissue. Specific workshops include shoulder and knee arthroscopy, total hip and knee arthroplasty, surgery and trauma. A successful Anatomy License application now allows utilisation of donated human tissue in our biomechanical research program.

Dr Richard Appleyard and Dr David Parker and Dr Myles Coolican, Sydney Orthopaedic Research Institute, ‘The effect of external fixation on the strain in the anterior cruciate ligament’. This work will be presented at the next ISAKOS meeting and published in a leading orthopaedic journal.

Dr Richard Appleyard and Mark Haber of Wollongong University. Measurement of rotator cuff fixation techniques in a human shoulder. This work will be presented at the next ISAKOS meeting and published in a leading orthopaedic journal.

Dr Richard Appleyard, A/Prof Chris Little and Prof Peter Ghosh, Mesoblast. Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of Allogeneic Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells (MPCs) in the regeneration of a medial knee joint meniscus and the retardation of cartilage injury in an ovine model of osteoarthritis. Long-term collaboration with industry.

Dr Richard Appleyard, Prof Andrew Ruys, Dr Qing Li, Prof Michael Swain. Mechanical Engineering, University of Sydney. Development of patient specific implant selection criteria: Reducing the incidence of femoral fracture after hip surgery. Long-term collaboration with PhD students; successful ARC Linkage and industry funded grant, publication of numerous papers.

Dr Qing Li, Dr Richard Appleyard, Dr Li W. Mechanical Engineering, University of Sydney. Computational Scaffold Optimisation for Tissue Engineering. Long-term collaboration with PhD students; successful ARC Discovery Grant, publication of numerous papers.

Associate Professor Chris Jackson and Dr Meilang Xue and Prof Len Harrison, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, received JDRF innovative grant to study the potential of a new agent to prevent type 1 diabetes.

Associate Professor Chris Jackson and Dr Meilang Xue and Prof Kenji Fukudome, Saga Medical School, Nabeshima, Saga, Japan. “Cytoprotective mechanisms of action of APC”. Prof Fukudome has provided reagents which are unavailable commercially to perform experiments. Ongoing collaboration- 2 publications.

Associate Professor Chris Jackson and Shing Shun Tony To, Hong Kong Polytechnic. Photodynamic therapy reduces cell proliferation and invasiveness. One publication

Associate Professor Chris Jackson, Yoshi Itoh and J Nanchahal, Kennedy Institute, London. MT1-MMP in tendon invasion.

Associate Professor Chris Jackson, E. Gallery, J. Morris, Dept Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Royal North Shore Hospital. Why is trophoblast invasion deficient in diabetic pregnancies? One publication

Associate Professor Chris Jackson, M Xue, Kaley Whitmont, P. Sambrook, L. March with Ross A. Davey*, A Cooper#, G Fulcher~,,*Department of Oncology, #Department of Dermatology, ~Dept Endocrinology Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonards NSW Australia. Activated protein C prevents inflammation yet stimulates angiogenesis to promote wound healing. 3 publications

Professor Phil Sambrook and Professor T Spector, Genetic Epidemiology Unit, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK, Twin studies of spinal disc degeneration. 3 publications

Herschmiller TA, Sonnabend DH, March L, University of Sydney, Honours project.
Investigation into the incidence and aetiology of back injury in elite rowers

Todhunter C, MacDougal G, Sonnabend DH, University of Sydney, Honours project.
Rotator cuff repair outcome: Is outcome affected by delamination noted at the time of repair

Dr Shen using FPLC

Dr Shen using FPLC to separate and identify components of the articular cartilage matrix

INFORMATION REGARDING CONTRACTUAL RESEARCH

IBJ welcomes inquires from companies and other organizations who are interested in utilizing the Institute's experienced staff to undertake basic and clinical research into musculoskeletal diseases and disorders, particularly in relation to their diagnosis and treatments.

The IBJ has already completed a number of projects with Australian and international pharmaceutical company and prosthetic manufacturers to evaluate the clinical and pre-clinical effectiveness of their products using our animal models as well as in patients.

More recent projects are underway to validate non-invasive techniques of disease modification in osteoarthritic (OA) joins using micro resonance imaging (MRI) and biochemical markers. This research is being undertaken in collaboration with laboratories in the United Kingdom and United States of America.

For further inquires and information, please contact Professor Philip Sambrook.