€1m grant awarded for research of stem cell alternative to artificial joints
Dr Daniel Kelly, a lecturer in biomechanical engineering at Trinity College Dublin, received the funding when he won the 2008 Science Foundation Ireland President of Ireland Young Researcher Award (PIYRA).
Dr Kelly, 30, from Stillorgan, Dublin, is hoping to make a breakthrough in producing new cartilage tissue from adult stem cells found in bone marrow that can be used to repair joints damaged by osteoarthritis.
The funding, which he will receive over the next five years, will allow him to develop a multidisciplinary group of engineers, scientists and clinicians in the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering at TCD’s School of Engineering.
Dr Kelly said a key part of the research would be finding out how the mechanical environment forces the stem cells to change into cartilage tissue.
“If you inject the stem cells into a knee they will be subjected to different types of loading as a person walks around. We want to know the kind of pressures they come under,” he pointed out.
Dr Kelly said he and his team also wanted to engineer more functional cartilage repair tissue from the stem cells that could be implanted in the body where it was needed.
“The tissue will definitely work in young patients joint injuries but that big question is whether we can use these cells to repair the joints of people with severe osteoarthritis.”
Dr Kelly has developed a computer model to calculate the mechanical environment for the stem cells and this model will play a key role in developing an effective cartilage repair.
A number of sports people throughout the world with damaged cartilage tissue in their knees have received cartilage cell-based injections.
Dr Kelly explained that the technique involved taking a piece of non-damaged tissue from the knee, expanding the cartilage specific cells and then injecting them back into the joint.
He pointed out that there was usually a very limited area to take the biopsy from as well as other problems associated with the technique.
In many cases the cells do not form a functional repair tissue and Dr Kelly believes that the mechanical environment is controlling this development.
“The cells differentiate and form a fibrous tissue, rather than a normal cartilage-like tissue,” said Dr Kelly.
Dr Kelly, who has a background in mechanical engineering, moved into industry after receiving his doctorate in biomechanics from TCD in 2003.
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