Newsletter No 84 - British Society for Matrix Biology

Connective Issues
BSMB Newsletter
Committee:
Prof. Ray Boot-Handford (Chairman), Prof. Andrew Pitsillides (Secretary),
Dr. David Young (Treasurer), Prof Jo Adams, Dr Sophie Gilbert,
Dr Kim Midwood, Rhiannon Morgan (Student member),
Dr Giovanna Nalesso (PD representative), Dr Simon Tew, DR Linda Troeberg,
Dr Tom Van Agtmael and Prof. Tonia Vincent
Registered Charity no. 281399
No. 84, July 2014
Contents
2
Editorial
……. Andy Pitsillides
2
Chairman’s letter
……. Ray Boot-Handford
2
BSMB News
Registration open
Successful ‘twitter’ launch ……. Rhiannon Morgan & Giovanna Nalesso
with Graham Riley
Welcome to New Members
New Committee members
4
Mark your diary!
Young Investigator Award 2014
Request for Nominations
Good News
5
Upcoming BSMB Meetings
7
BSMB Conference Bursaries
7
Meeting Reports
.......Jo Adams & Tom Van Agtmael
11 Current BSMB committee
11 Obituary – Alan Nicholls
13 Flyer. BSMB Bristol meeting
……. Register now
1
Editorial
Dear BSMB Member
Welcome to the 84th Connective Issues.
Firstly, we are particularly pleased to extend
a warm BSMB welcome to new and returning
society members.
Thanks are extended to Jo Adams for
organising an excellent BSMB meeting in
Bristol and for managing, so expertly, our
Bursary scheme. I am sure that you will have
noticed its growth under her tenure. It is also
timely to thank Giovanna Nalesso, our postdoctoral, who is ‘happily’ stepping down for
maternity leave; we wish her the very best.
Register now: for our Autumn 2014 meeting
at UEA, Norwich, held jointly with the British
Society for Developmental Biology.
When one door closes another opens, so:
• Nominate yourself: as a new post-doctoral
representative on the BSMB Committee and
help shape the Society’s future.
• We are very pleased to welcome both
Sophie Gilbert (Cardiff) and Linda Troeberg
(Oxford) to the BSMB Committee. I am sure
that you will join me in wishing them every
success, and finally
• Welcome to Tom van Agtmael, your
Committee member now in charge of the
BSMB Bursary scheme. You have my full
permission to inundate him with applications.
By Andrew Pitsillides
Honorary Secretary
____________________________________
MBE Dick Heinegard Young Investigator
Award was intense, with 6 finalists from all
across Europe. This included our own BSMB
nomination, Aida Martinez-Sanchez from the
Kennedy, Oxford, presenting her work on the
final morning of the meeting. Congratulations
to all the finalists and in particular to Herbert
Schiller from the Max Planck in Munich who
won the overall prize. The FECTS Council
was very happy to announce that the next
MBE (FECTS) meeting will be held in Athens
in June 2016. Furthermore, they have
accepted the BSMBs offer to organize the
conference in the UK in the summer of 2018
at a location yet to be decided. This will be a
major undertaking for our Society and
planning will start in the next few months.
Despite this being a FECTS year, we have a
full programme of BSMB meetings. The
Spring meeting in Bristol organized by Jo
Adams (reports later in newsletter) was well
attended and enjoyed by all; and we have the
Autumn meeting (joint with the British Society
for Developmental Biology) at UEA, Norwich,
themed on ‘The musculoskeletal System –
from development to Disease’ to look forward
to in early September. This meeting will also
include the BSMB Young Investigator Award
‘John Scott Lecture’ for 2014 and its recipient
will be announced in the next month. I hope
to meet many of you at UEA and in the
meantime hope you have a productive and
sunny summer.
Ray Boot-Handford, Chairman BSMB
____________________________________
BSMB News
Chairman’s Letter
Registration open:
Dear Fellow Matrix Biologists,
On-line registration is open for the
It is a pleasure to be able to report to you that
the Matrix Biology Europe (FECTS) meeting
this June in Rotterdam was a considerable
success with 250 delegates attending and a
good number of BSMB members speaking
and presenting posters. This is particularly
gratifying in that the future of this meeting
had been in doubt following low attendance
at the 2012 FECTS meeting. The Dutch
Society for Matrix Biology is to be
congratulated on getting this meeting back
onto firmer footings. Competition for the first
BSMB 2014 Autumn Meeting on 1st - 3rd
September, held jointly with the British
Society for Developmental Biology. This
meeting, organised by a joint team including
our own Graham Riley and Tonia Vincent at
the University of East Anglia, Norwich will
focus on the musculoskeletal System: from
development to disease and will encompass
a host of approaches to address this area.
Keynote speakers will include Tom Rando
2
(Stanford) and David Glass (Novartis) and
sessions
entitled:
Signaling
and
development, Mechanobiology and Anatomy,
Human Genetics and pathology, and
Transcriptional and epigenetic regulation.
The programme will relate these research
areas to the musculoskeletal system The
programme contains a host of internationally
respected speakers and, as ever, there will
be many opportunities for short talks selected
from submitted abstracts. It will also include
the BSMB “Young investigator award” and
many Presenter/Reporter Bursaries are
available. The conference reception and
dinner will be held at St Andrew’s Hall, a
medieval friary complex.
Welcome to New Members!
Registration is via the BSMB/BSDB website.
http://www.bsmb.ac.uk/bsmb-bsdb/socialevent/ and the important deadline is 25th July
2014.
Full: Sophia Akbareian (Norwich), Vivien
Coulson-Thomas
(Cambridge),
Richard
Farndale
(Cambridge),
Alan
Kerby
(Manchester), Mohammad Khan (RVC,
London), Qing-Jun Meng (Manchester),
Taiwo Oguntona (Sheffield), Takao Sakai
(Liverpool), Urvashi Sharma (Lyon) and
Kazuhiro Yamamoto (Oxford).
Please see below for more details.
The following new and returning members
are welcomed:
Students: Mohammed Aldughaim, Ella
Dennis (Newcastle), Margaret Fegen (West
of Scotland), John Garcia (Oswestry), Sean
Giblin (Oxford), Alan Godwin (Manchester),
Jade Gumbs (Liverpool), Valentina Iorio
(Liverpool) Robert Jackson (Newcastle),
Katie Lee (Liverpool), Ian Li (Liverpool),
Michael Lockhart (Manchester), Victor Njom
(Sheffield), Ewan Ramsay (Manchester),
Wipawee Saengsoi (Liverpool), and Adil
Sarhan.
Successful launch of our BSMB twitter
site this year has gained
many followers including the
Bone Research Society and
OA Centre Oxford. Tweets
serve as useful reminders for important
deadlines; helping to ensure those abstracts
are submitted and conferences registered for!
Titbits of interesting research and conference
highlights are also regularly tweeted. To
follow us, search @BSMB1 to find us on
twitter.
…and of course you can keep finding
updates about BSMB on Facebook too! Our
facebook community nearly doubled this year
and keeps growing! If you are already a
follower, spread the rumour with whoever
share our love for "the matrix" and invite them
to like the page. Why not post pictures of
yourself and of your group at the BSMB
conferences: it will keep the spirit of the
meeting alive!
New Committee members
We have also to welcome BSMB members
Dr Sophie Gilbert (left|) and Dr Linda
Troeberg to the BSMB Committee. We wish
them every success in contributing to the
vibrancy of our Society.
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/biosi/contactsandpeo
ple/stafflist/e-h/gilbert-sophie-droverview_new.html (left)
https://www.facebook.com/BritishSociety
Sharing buttons are installed at the bottom of
every BSMB web page for Facebook, Twitter,
Linked-in, Google+ page, or even via email
Rhiannon Morgan, Giovanna Nalesso and
Graham Riley
http://www.kennedy.ox.ac.uk/research/teams/
troeberg/troeberg1.html (right)
____________________________________
3
Mark your diary
Request for Nominations
BSMB Autumn meeting held jointly with
British Society for Developmental Biology
September 1st-3rd, 2014
University of East Anglia, Norwich
* The American Society for Matrix Biology
October 12th-15th 2014
Cleveland, Ohio
Visit www.asmb.net for more information
Organised by Suneel Apte
Matrix Biology Ireland
November 19th - 21st NUI Galway
From Pathophysiology to Therapy.
Organised by Fabio Quondamatteo
BSMB 2015 Spring Meeting
March 30th - 31st, 2015 Oxford
‘Location, location, location: the matrix and
the microenvironment’
Organised by Kim Midwood
BSMB Joint meeting with the
Bone Research Society
September 1st - 3rd, 2015, Edinburgh
Organised by Vicky MacRae, Stuart Ralston
and Tom Van Agtmael
2nd MBE, Athens Greece
10th – 15th June 2016.
Organised by Nikos Karamanos
____________________________________
Young
2014
Investigator
Award
This is a final reminder that the closing date
for this year's BSMB Young Investigator
Award is the 31st July. Interested parties will
find further details about the application
process on: http://www.bsmb.ac.uk/awardsindex/young-investigator-award/
The generous gift from the late Prof John
Scott’s estate has established a prize fund to
support the YIA. Applications from any BSMB
member aged 36 or under at the time of
application will be considered.
Graham Riley, BSMB
BSMB Committee Postdoctoral
representative
BSMB Committee includes representation
from both Post-doctoral members. Past
postdoctoral Committee members have made
valuable contributions. As our current
representative has had to step down, we now
seek her replacement. Any Post-doctoral
BSMB member is eligible for a one year term.
The successful applicant will normally attend
BSMB Committee meetings and occasional
meetings held at other times. Nominees
should send a short statement and CV to the
Secretary, together with a statement from
their supervisor agreeing to their participation
on the Committee. To avoid an election, the
first appropriately qualified nominees to email the required information will likely be
appointed.
Closing date: Sept 1st 2014. Informal
enquiries to Andy Pitsillides by phone (0207
468 5245) or e-mail ([email protected]).
Andrew Pitsillides, BSMB Secretary.
___________________________________
‘Good news'
BSMB with the International Journal of
Experimental
Pathology
has
recently
published both our YIA, 2013 contribution
(Piccinini and Midwood, Illustrating the
interplay between the extracellular matrix and
microRNAs, IJEP Volume 95, Issue 3, pages
158–180, DOI: 10.1111/iep.12079) and the
meeting report and abstracts from our
meeting in Cardiff last year (Under pressure:
the cell's response, IJEP Volume 95, Issue 3,
pages A1–A38, DOI: 10.1111/iep.12078).
Please find full reference to your published
abstracts therein.
BSMB bursaries (<£600) are available to
graduate
student
and
post-doctoral
researchers to participate in the 2014
American Society for Matrix Biology meeting,
that will be held from Oct 12-15, 2014, in
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
To share more good news please contact
Kim Midwood.
__________________________________
4
Upcoming BSMB Meetings
Chrissy Hammond (Bristol): Unpicking the
relationship between mechanical loading and
genes in shaping the developing joint.
BSMB/BSDB 2014 Autumn
Meeting – UEA 1st-3rd Sept 2014
Ronen Schweitzer (Portland): Regulation of
tendon growth and maturation.
‘The musculoskeletal system; from
development to disease’
Andy Pitsillides (RVC): Limb growth and joint
formation: move-it, move-it.
Jointly Organised by Andrea
Munsterberg (BSDB), Uli Mayer, Ian
Clark, Graham Riley and Tonia Vincent
(BSMB)
The BSMB Spring 2014 meeting will be a
joint 3 day meeting with the British Society for
Developmental Biology. It will be held at the
University of East Anglia, Norwich from the 13rd Sept, 2014. The meeting, entitled “The
musculoskeletal system; from development to
disease” will cover broad aspects of the
musculoskeletal system including bone,
muscle, cartilage and tendon. For further
information/
registration
please
see:
www.bsmb.ac.uk/forthcoming-meetings/
Keynote speakers will include:
Tom Rando (Stanford): Molecular Regulation
of Stem Cell Quiescence
David Glass (Novartis): Signaling pathways
that regulate skeletal muscle size & function
Sessions include:
Session 1 - Signaling and development
Gabriel Kardon (Utah) : Muscle & connective
tissue interactions during development and
regeneration
Malcolm Logan (NIMR): The role of muscle
connective tissue in morphogenesis of the
limb soft tissues.
Christine Hartmann (Münster): Wnt-signaling
and trabecular bone formation.
Session 2 - Mechanobiology and Anatomy
Eli Zelzer (Weizmann Inst): How bones
acquire their morphology while connecting to
tendons.
Paul O’Higgins (York): Virtual anatomies:
how computers are transforming studies of
musculoskeletal form and function.
Session 3: Human Genetics and pathology
Mike Briggs (Newcastle): Refining disease
mechanisms in genetic skeletal diseases.
Madeleine Durbeej (Lund): Laminin-deficient
muscular dystrophy: pathogenesis and
development of treatment.
Cay Kielty (Manchester): Fibrillin microfibrils:
genotype-to-phenotype in the fibrillinopathies.
Linda Troeberg (Oxford): Regulation of
cartilage extracellular matrix turnover by the
endocytic receptor LRP-1.
Session 4: Transcriptional and epigenetic
regulation
Veronique Lefebvre (Cleveland): Rivalry
between Sox proteins define your skeleton.
Simon Tew (Liverpool): Post transcriptional
gene regulation in human chondrocytes.
Programme will also include the Young
investigator award and many short talks from
abstracts, with a BSMB Open session. BSMB
presenter/reporter Bursaries available.
Important Deadlines
Deadline for abstracts: 25th July 2014
Bursary deadline: 25th July, 2014
End ‘early bird’ registration: 25th July, 2014
Social Event: The conference reception and
dinner will be held at St Andrew’s Hall,
Norwich, a medieval friary complex!
Fees:
Member
Non-member
Student
Non-member
students
Pre July 25th
After July 25th
Early Bird
£150
£200
£100
Late Fee
£200
£250
£150
£125
£175
5
Additional costs:
Accommodation (Student Hall of Residence
on campus) – £40 per night, Bed & Breakfast,
en suite bathroom.
Conference Dinner (Tuesday night) - £40
(£30 for PhD students)
Registration & fees via BSMB/BSDB website.
http://www.bsmb.ac.uk/bsmb-bsdb/socialevent/
BSMB 2015 Spring Meeting –
Oxford March 30th-31st, 2015
‘Location, location, location: the
matrix and the microenvironment’
Organised by Kim Midwood
The BSMB Spring 2015 meeting will be held
in Oxford on Monday March 30th and
Tuesday March 31st 2015. The topic of this
conference is “Location, Location, Location;
the matrix and the microenvironment” and the
local organizer is Kim Midwood.
This meeting will focus on how the
extracellular matrix creates distinct niches
that provide specific environmental cues to
control cell behaviour. We will examine how
different microenvironments are formed and
regulated, both transcriptionally and post
transcriptionally, as well as discussing how
the three dimensional architecture and
physical properties of the matrix have a
profound effect on the phenotype of resident
cells. We will explore molecular mechanisms
by which distinct matrices drive specific
processes in development & inflammation, as
well as discussing how the extracellular niche
is highjacked during tumorigenesis to enable
cancer cells to thrive and spread. Finally, this
programme will focus on how these research
areas have revealed that targeting not only
the pathogenic cell, but also the cellular
microenvironment, can be very powerful in
treating inflammatory diseases and cancer.
An exciting programme of internationally
renowned speakers is confirmed. There are
also many slots available for short talks that
will be selected from submitted abstracts and
a BSMB Open session that will feature hot
topics from any area of matrix biology. At this
meeting the 2015 BSMB Fell-Muir award will
also be presented.
The conference will take place at the lovely
St. Catherine’s College in Oxford and the
reception and dinner will be held in the ever
popular College Halls & Bar. Accommodation
will also be on-site. Registration for this
BSMB meeting will open early in 2015.
BSMB Presenter and Reporter Bursaries will
be available and application for these also
commences
in
January
2015.
See
www.bsmb.ac.uk for updates.
BSMB Joint meeting with the
Bone Research Society
September 1st – 3rd, 2015
University of Edinburgh
Organised by Vicky MacRae, Stuart
Ralston and Tom Van Agtmael
BSMB’s Autumn 2015 meeting (University of
Edinburgh), will be our 3rd joint meeting with
the Bone Research Society (BRS). Similar to
previous combined meetings, this meeting
will extend over 3 days (Tuesday lunch-time
to Thursday afternoon). The meeting will
cover a range of aspects of matrix biology
including disease mechanism, regenerative
medicine, scaffolds, genetics of disease and
mineralisation. Other highlights include the
BSMB John Scott Young Investigator Award
lecture and the plenary lecture of the BSMB
open session by Liliana Schaeffer (Germany)
The meeting will be held in the John McIntyre
Conference Centre at Pollock Halls on the
South side of Edinburgh city. Accommodation
and all meals will be on site. The conference
dinner on Wednesday night will be followed
by Scottish ceilidh dancing.
6
Preliminary programme and invited speakers
Tuesday 1st Sept, 2015
Session: Genetics of bone disease
Wim Van Hul (Antwerp, Belgium)
Wednesday 2nd Sept, 2015
Session: Stem cells & regenerative medicine
Antonella Forlino (Pavia, Italy)
Session: Targeting intracellular pathways for
matrix diseases
Mike Briggs (Newcastle, UK)
Paolo Bonaldo (Padova, Italy)
Session: Scaffolds
Molly Stevens (Imperial College, UK)
Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez (Glasgow, UK)
Session: John Scott YIA Award lecture
Wednesday 3rd Sept, 2015
Session: BSMB and BRS open session
Liliana Schaeffer (Frankfurt, Germany)
Session: Mineralisation
Colin Farquharson (Edinburgh, UK)
Catherine Shanahan (Kings College, UK)
____________________________________
BSMB Conference Bursaries
Jo Adams and Tom Van Agtmael
BSMB Reporter: Andrew Hellewell (Bristol);
Presenter: Thomas Cox (Copenhagen),
Suzanne Eldridge (QMUL, London), Rory
Fentem
(Liverpool),
Simon
Goodson
(Cardiff), Helen McCarthy (Keele), Silvia
Rosini (Bristol) and Bethan Thomas (QMUL,
London).
Other meetings: Clare Thomson (QMUL,
2014 Cilia Keystone), Katherine Staines
(Edinburgh, OARSI 2014, Paris), Dilip
Thomas (Galway, GRC: Signalling by
engineered ECM, MA, USA), Samantha
Borland (Manchester, GRC Proteoglycans)
and
Rouhollah
Mousavizadeh (British
Columbia, ASMB 2014).
MBE/FECTS
2014
Rotterdam:
Mitra
Forohah (Manchester), Yalda Ashraf Kharaz,
Mandy Peffers, Luke Tregilgas and Kate
Williamson (all Liverpool) and Aida SanchezMartinez (Oxford)
Young members can apply for expenses to
attend national/international meetings, with a
matrix theme. Several types are offered:
Presenter and Reporter Bursaries, FECTS
and ASMB Bursaries and those to attend
other meetings. Eligibility, application process
and deadlines at www.bsmb.ac.uk/bursaries/
Dr Tom Van Agtmael,
[email protected]
____________________________________
Meeting reports
BSMB Spring Meeting 2014
Building the Extracellular Matrix:
Molecules, Cells and Evolution
Andrew Hellewell
(University of Bristol)
The BSMB spring meeting was held in the
grand Wills Memorial Building at the
University of Bristol on the 7th and 8th of April
2014 and was organised by Jo Adams. The
meeting encompassed a broad swathe of
matrix biology from structural insights into
intermolecular interactions to animal models
and therapeutic applications. This created a
lively atmosphere of stimulating, crossdisciplinary discussion. The meeting was
attended by 105 delegates and included 20
speakers ranging from 1st year Ph.D.
students to world leading international
researchers, giving a platform for those at all
stages of their career. Some of the research
themes emerging from the meeting are
discussed here.
The conference included many excellent talks
on the interaction between ECM and cells; for
example Jun Qin (Cleveland, USA) discussed
an interesting mechanism for the regulation
of integrin activity, whereby talin is retained in
an inactive state in the cytosol due to chargecharge repulsion, but activated via a PIP2
dependent pull-push mechanism.
Leena
Bruckner-Tuderman (Freiburg, Germany)
introduced her exciting translational research
on the potential use of Losartan for reducing
TGF-associated ECM accumulation in
epidermolysis
bullosa.
Thomas
Cox
(Copenhagen, Denmark) gave a fascinating
talk on the ability of cancer cells to preappropriate sites elsewhere in the body for
7
metastasis. He showed this can be achieved
through secretion of Lysyl oxidase which
promotes formation of bone lesions.
A number of interesting talks on structural
biology were also given. Erhard Hohnester
(Imperial College London) outlined his
elegant models for the domain structure and
self-assembly of laminin heterotrimers, and
also discussed how they interact with both
the cell surface and type IV collagen. Clair
Baldock (Manchester) described horseshoelike conformation of chordin and how this
relates to BMP-4 and BMP-7 binding and
regulation through tolloid cleavage. David
Briggs (Manchester) introduced an unusual
proteoglycan of plasma, Inter-alpha-inhibitor,
and revealed how the structure had
fascinating similarities to integrin -subunits.
The 1st day was brought to a close by the
presentation of the BSMB Fell-Muir Award to
John Couchman (Copenhagen) for his
outstanding contribution to matrix biology and
to the BSMB. He gave an absorbing overview
of his work on Syndecan-4, and argued that
whilst syndecans were originally considered
to be minor co-receptors, they are now
considered major regulators of cell function
through control of intracellular calcium
metabolism. Following the Fell-Muir award,
the very enjoyable conference reception and
dinner was held at the M-Shed Museum on
the Bristol harbourside.
A major theme of the meeting was ECM
evolution, touched upon by Richard Hynes
(MIT, USA) during his keynote presentation.
He discussed recent reappraisals of the
placement of ctenophores in the metazoan
evolutionary tree, that now lead them to be
considered basal to sponges, and his lab’s
ongoing analysis of the ctenophore ECM
toolkit. Alongside evolutionary aspects, he
discussed exhaustive proteomics approaches
to analyse ECM composition, particularly in
relation to cancer, including examples of a
different ECM composition between primary
pro- and non-metastatic tumours.
Returning to evolution, a fascinating talk was
given by Suat Özbek (Heidelberg, Germany)
providing an insight into the cnidarian, Hydra
magnipapillata, which is able to completely
regrow its head, by Wnt-dependent events,
after decapitation; during regrowth, specific
ECM proteins, including thrombospondin, are
upregulated at the tip.
Towards the end of the meeting two talks
stood out as of particular interest with regard
to practical applications of fundamental cellmatrix biology. Vivian Li (National Institute
for Medical Research, London) described her
8
exciting work with intestinal organoids,
developed on matrigel from intestinal stem
cells, and a multitude of potential therapeutic
applications including gene therapy and
transplantation. James Armstrong (Bristol)
described an elegant solution to a difficult
problem with large engineered extracellular
matrices, whereby cells at the centre are
starved of oxygen and undergo necrosis.
Their solution was to use surfactantconjugated myoglobin, which associated with
the cells to provide a suitable oxygen supply.
This BSMB spring meeting was an excellent,
stimulating conference with talks from worldleading researchers from UK, Europe and
North America, and over 40 posters
contributing to a lively, enjoyable atmosphere
of discussion. In recognition of their scientific
content and excellent presentation skills,
Suzanne Eldridge and Bethan Thomas (both
QMUL, London), and Michael Randles
(Manchester), were awarded IJEP/BSMB
poster prizes (see above). Conference
Presenter bursaries were awarded to
Thomas Cox, Suzanne Eldridge, Rory
Fentem, Simon Goodson, Helen McCarthy
and Silvia Rosini.
Osteoarthritis Research Society World
Congress 2014.
Katherine Staines
(Roslin Institute University of Edinburgh)
From Thursday 24th - Sunday 27th April 2014,
clinicians,
scientists
and
healthcare
professionals from across the world flocked
to enjoy Paris in springtime at the
Osteoarthritis Research Society World
Congress. With an international organising
committee, the scientific program attracts
thousands of osteoarthritis researchers from
across the globe. This year was no exception
with 84 abstracts accepted as oral
presentations and 811 accepted as poster
presentations.
The congress was preceded by pre-congress
workshops including a Young Investigator
session entitled “How to define OA:
phenotyping OA from different perspectives”.
Short talks were given by Francis
Berenbaum, David Felson, Chris Little, and
John Loughlin, with Donald Salter and Andy
Pitsillides directing the subsequent highly
topical discussions. Following on from this,
the nine highest rated abstracts from young
investigators were presented as oral
presentations. These included British input
from Fiona Watt (Kennedy Institute of
Rheumatology) who spoke about her work on
how the molecular changes observed in
synovial fluid following acute knee injury
mirror those observed in the murine joint
injury response. Giovanna Nalesso (William
Harvey Research institute) detailed the role
of Wnt16 in cartilage homeostasis and
osteoarthritis and Vikki Wylde (University of
Bristol) examined the effect of local
anaesthetic wound infiltration on chronic pain
after total hip replacement.
There were large numbers of young
investigators at this conference, with
numerous activities organised by committee
chair Blandine Poulet (UCL, London). These
included the very successful annual ‘Meet the
Professor” Mentorship Session followed by a
social event. In this session, young
investigators are encouraged to select an
area of osteoarthritis research (e.g. bone,
imaging, pain) that most closely resembles
their research interests. This allows the
committee to then match you with other
young investigators with complementary
interests and a suitable mentor who provides
mentorship from both a scientific and a
career perspective. This event is always well
attended with excellent enthusiasm and
positivity from both young investigators and
mentors alike. There was also a lunchtime
session on ‘How to sell yourself’ with advice
given on CV writing and how to apply for
academic, industrial and clinical positions.
The conference program was structured into
concurrent sessions opening with an invited
speaker, followed by approximately 5 short
talks from the selected abstracts. These
themed sessions included cartilage biology,
9
bone biology, synovial tissue & inflammation,
regenerative medicine, mechanisms of
disease, genetics & epigenetics, joint
biomechanics, and proteomics. Of particular
interest was an invited talk by Chrissy
Hammond (University of Bristol) who detailed
use of zebrafish as a model for research.
As always, OARSI closed with the ‘Year in
Review’, which provide an excellent summary
of the year’s publications in osteoarthritis
research. Categories discussed included:
imaging, mechanics, rehabilitation outcomes,
clinical,
biomarkers, and regenerative
medicine. Given by invited speakers from
across the field, a personal selection of high
impact publications were presented and
discussed as well as the general trend in
publication statistics. The OARSI 2014
conference abstracts have been published in
the recent Osteoarthritis and Cartilage
(Volume 22, Supplement pp. S1-S490).
Keystone symposium: Cilia, Development
and Disease.
Clare Thomson (QMUL, London)
This Keystone symposium was held at
Granlibakken Ski resort in Tahoe City,
California from 1st - 7th March 2014, jointly
chaired by Elizabeth Petri Henske, Jeremy
Reiter and Joel Rosenbaum and attracted
>150 delegates from around the world
working in the field of cilia biology.
The meeting included more than 40 oral
presentations and 120 poster presentations
and covered a diverse range of cilia related
topics, from the basic science of cilia
structure and trafficking in unicellular
flagellates to development and application of
therapies for the treatment of ciliopathies in
patients. The meeting opened with a keynote
address from Katheryn Anderson (Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, USA) who
presented exciting new work on regulation of
cilium formation during mouse development.
In the first half of this stimulating
presentation, Katheryn presented data on the
'Maki' mutant mouse which exhibits a
ciliopathy phenotype reminiscent of Joubert
syndrome due to mutations in the kinesin
motor protein KIF7. She provided new
evidence that despite the presence of a
functional motor domain KIF7 exhibits no
motor activity in vivo. This novel finding
challenged current dogma, suggesting that
this protein is required for transport of
hedgehog signalling pathway components
into the ciliary compartment, a necessary
step for the activation of signal transduction.
In the second half of her address, Katheryn
presented
fascinating
data
on
the
development of an in vivo model to map the
timing and location of cilia formation
throughout murine development. Of note, she
described the difference in cilia formation
between stem cell populations in the embryo
and demonstrated that the differential cilia
formation within these populations was
maintained in vitro. These observations are
critical to cilia biologists in the stem cell field
and will inform future studies.
This keynote address was followed by seven
themed sessions, the first of which was
entitled: Cilia structure formation & resorption
in which Wallace Marshall (California, San
Francisco) discussed recent publications
from his group on the flagellar length control
system. As a fundamental area of cilia
research, his presentation promoted much
useful discussion from scientists working on
primary cilia in a wide range of cell types and
tissues and there were many insightful
comments
made
on
the
functional
consequences of cilia length regulation.
Other speakers in this included Paul Lefebvre
(University of Minnesota) and Cheryl Walker
(Texas A&M Health Science Center). The
latter discussed the role of the Von Hippel
Lindau (VHL) tumour suppressor protein in
cilia length maintenance and linked it to the
classic Aurora A kinase/HDAC6 cilia
disassembly pathway, providing insight into
tumorigenesis mechanisms in VHL disease.
In the sessions that followed, topics such as:
Cilia in vesicle transport & trafficking, and
Cilia, proliferation & cancer were covered in
talks from Peter Jackson (Stanford), Gregory
Pazour (Massachusetts), Erica Golemis (Fox
Chase Cancer centre) and other excellent
leading scientists. One of the many highlights
of this meeting was a talk from Jean Bennet
(Pennsylvania) on progress and prospects of
gene therapy for the treatment of blindness in
patients with ciliopathies such as Leber's
Congenital Amaurosis (LCA). She presented
safety and efficacy results from a Phase II
clinical trial involving 12 subjects born with
LCA. In this trial, gene therapy was
successfully used to restore sight.
10
This Keystone Symposium was a very
focussed and interesting meeting on a rapidly
expanding field. It was a valuable opportunity
for me to meet some of the leading scientists
in cilia biology. The format of these meetings
is designed to maximise networking among
participants, indeed the highly attended
poster sessions were exceptional, with
lengthy discussions at all levels. I would like
to thank BSMB for supporting my attendance
at this meeting and would highly recommend
anyone to attend a relevant Keystone
meeting in their field.
__________________________________
Current BSMB Committee
Officers:
Chairman, Prof. Ray Boot-Handford
(University of Manchester; [email protected])
Honorary Secretary, Prof. Andrew Pitsillides
(Royal Veterinary College, University of
London; [email protected])
Honorary Treasurer, Dr. David Young
(Newcastle University; [email protected])
Elected and Seconded Members:
Dr Tom Van Agtmael (University of Glasgow;
[email protected])
Dr. Tonia Vincent (Kennedy Institute of
Rheumatology, University of Oxford;
[email protected])
Dr. Kim Midwood (Kennedy Institute of
Rheumatology, University of Oxford;
[email protected])
Prof. Jo C. Adams (University of Bristol;
[email protected])
Dr. Simon Tew (Institute of Ageing and
Chronic Disease, Liverpool;
[email protected])
Dr Sophie Gilbert (Cardiff University;
[email protected])
Dr Linda Troeberg (Kennedy Institute of
Rheumatology, University of Oxford;
[email protected])
Co-opted Members:
Dr. Graham Riley (University of East Anglia;
[email protected])
Rhiannon
Morgan
(Student
member,
University of Liverpool)
____________________________________
Obituary:
Alan
Charles
Nicholls (1947-2014)
Alan undertook his PhD with Professor Henry
Rydon in the Department of Chemistry at the
University of Exeter entitled "The interaction
of glutaraldehyde with amino-acids and
proteins". He then moved with his wife Helen
to the USA and undertook post-doctoral
research at the NIH Institute of Dental
Research in Bethesda between 1971 and
1974; alongside other future collagen experts
such as Peter Byers and David Rowe.
Returning to the UK, Alan worked with Alan
Bailey and Vic Duance at the Agricultural
Research Council laboratories in Langford
near Bristol from 1974 to 1978.
In 1978 Alan moved from the ARC centre at
Langford to the MRC Clinical Research
Centre in Harrow to work with Mike Pope on
defining the biochemical basis of certain
inherited defects of connective tissue,
especially vascular Ehlers Danlos syndrome
and osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). Alan and
Mike had previously met at the NIH in 1973,
when Alan (who worked with Karl Piez) and
Mike, who was on secondment from Victor
McKusick’s group at Johns Hopkins, had
explored certain inherited connective tissue
diseases with George Martin.
At Harrow, there quickly followed a series of
three letters published in The Lancet between
1979 and 1980 describing their early groundbreaking work on the biochemical analysis of
OI. Indeed, the 1979 letter reported the novel
finding of complete deficiency in alpha-2
chains of type I collagen in severe OI. They
later showed that the proband’s heterozygous
first cousin parents had early osteoporosis. In
various follow up studies of patients, Alan
demonstrated that several diverse connective
11
tissues diseases could result from abnormal
processing of collagens, including Ehlers
Danlos and cerebral aneurisms. In 1984 a
seminal article published in the British
Medical Journal demonstrated that an
abnormal collagen alpha-chain contained a
cysteine residue and thus gave us the first
description of a collagen structural mutation.
By the mid 1980s the group, originally called
the “MRC Dermatology Research Group”,
had changed its name to the “MRC
Connective Tissue Genetics Group” and were
fast embracing the new recombinant DNA
technologies. By the late 1980s and early
1990s the group were regularly identifying
new mutations in the genes encoding types I,
III and V collagen and translating this new
knowledge into more accurate genetic
counselling of UK patients referred for clinical
categorization. At this time they also hosted
the early clinical and laboratory activities of
Dr Anne de Paepe, who spent a fruitful
sabbatical in Harrow and who later seconded
several of her laboratory staff to the MRC
Harrow laboratory.
Following the closure of the MRC Clinical
Research Centre in 1994, Alan moved with
various other members of the Connective
Tissue Genetics Group to Strangeways
Research Laboratory, where they joined the
Department of Pathology, University of
Cambridge. In 1997, when it became
apparent that the MRC did not plan to fund
further connective tissue research from 2001,
Alan and some group members moved from
Strangeways to the University Pathology
Laboratories, Tennis Court Rd. Alan
continued to characterise the genetic and
biochemical basis of human connective
tissues diseases until his premature
retirement in 2001. His final preliminary
finding, which unfortunately he did not get the
opportunity to confirm before retirement, was
the role of BMP1 mutations in recessive
forms of OI; it would have been a welldeserved swan song. Other spin-offs of the
group’s activities still continue in Cambridge
where Allan Richards, who worked at Harrow
and Cambridge, now oversees the molecular
biology of Sticklers Syndrome.
The partnership between Alan and Mike
forged new ground in our understanding of a
variety of connective tissue disorders,
particularly forms of EDS and OI. For several
years it was one of the strongest partnerships
and one of the most productive in the world in
defining the genetics and biochemistry of
these disorders and some of these papers
remain classics to this day.
Alan was always willing and happy to share
his knowledge and expertise with colleagues
and he trained numerous UK and overseas
research scientists. He forged strong links
with other research groups, most notably in
Belgium where he had also acted as an
external examiner. Alan was an excellent
supervisor and he successfully mentored
many PhD students whilst at Harrow,
including Sara Daw and myself.
Following his early retirement, Alan had time
to concentrate on being a grandparent; his
first granddaughter being only 2 years old at
the time. When he wasn’t being an active
granddad he spent lots of time on his bikes, a
passion that developed out of the necessity
to travel to Harrow for work each day. He
would often be riding for hours at a time, or
could be found performing maintenance in
the garage. He was a great help when it
came to homework for both his children and
grandchildren; there didn’t seem to be much
he didn’t know on any subject! He was also
excellent at DIY due to his perfectionist
nature, and he was often called upon by the
family to help out with kitchen fitting and
general home improvement projects. He had
a passion for reading crime novels, and
enjoyed the Scandinavian thrillers on TV.
When Alan’s grandson came along, he got
involved again and was often found
supporting from the side-lines at junior
football games. Alan often met up with old
colleagues from his Cambridge days and
more recently had joined a local quiz team.
Alan was a kind, funny, dependable, reliable,
knowledgeable man, who kept his family at
the heart of everything he did. Family, friends
and colleagues alike will sorely miss him.
(Michael Briggs, Mike Pope, Frances and
Paul Nicholls)
___________________________________
REGISTER NOW & SEE YOU IN
NORWICH SEPTEMBER 2014!
12
1st Joint Meeting of the British Societies for
Matrix Biology and Developmental Biology
The Musculoskeletal System
from Development to Disease
1.-3. September 2014
University of East Anglia, Norwich
Confirmed Speakers:
Keynote Speakers:
Mike Briggs (Newcastle)
Madeleine Durbeej (Lund)
Chrissy Hammond (Bristol)
Christine Hartmann (Münster)
Gabrielle Kardon (Salt Lake City)
Cay Kielty (Manchester)
Veronique Lefebvre (Cleveland)
Malcolm Logan (London)
Paul O’Higgins (Hull)
Andy Pitsillides (London)
Ronen Schweitzer (Portland)
Simon Tew (Liverpool)
Linda Troeberg (Oxford)
Eli Zelzer (Weizmann)
Tom Rando (Stanford)
David Glass (Novartis)
Additional speakers
will be selected from abstracts
Major Topics:
Signaling
Development
Stem Cells
Mechanobiology
Anatomy
Human Genetics
Pathology
Organizers:
I. Clark, A. Münsterberg
G. Riley, U. Mayer
T. Vincent
Further information: www.bsmb.ac.uk/bsmb-bsdb