Young Investigator 2008

Dr Emma Blain

2008

Emma receives her award from the BSMB officers - from left to right: Graham Riley (Treasurer), Anthony Hollander (Chair of YIA committee), Bruce Caterson (Chairman) and John Couchman (Secretary)

As a condition of the award, Emma prepared a review paper, which was published in the International Journal of Experimental Pathology.

Biography

Emma completed her PhD in 2002 on the identification of mechanically regulated genes in articular cartilage under the supervision of Professor Vic Duance (Cardiff University). Her research revealed, for the first time, that mechanical compression induced matrix metalloproteinase expression and activation in cartilage. She further identified the mechano-regulation of an actin-binding protein called thymosin b4 which was shown to induce matrix metalloproteinase activities. During her PhD, she carried out an industrial placement with her sponsor GE Healthcare validating cross-species reactivity of matrix metalloproteinase radioimmunoassays. Emma started her first postdoctoral position, in 2002, in the laboratory of Professor Duance investigating the involvement of thymosin b4 and the actin cytoskeleton in cartilage chondrocyte mechanotransduction. Emma's studies however were not confined to only the actin cytoskeleton, but she developed an interest more widely into the role of the three major cytoskeletal elements in mechanotransduction. This was followed by a brief period working in the laboratory of Professor Bruce Caterson (Cardiff University) establishing in vitro co-cultures of articular cartilage and synovium to investigate crosstalk between the two synovial joint tissues. In 2008, Emma returned to the laboratory of Professor Duance where she is a research associate, funded by the Arthritis Research Campaign, in the School of Biosciences at Cardiff University. She is currently unravelling how the cytoskeletal elements, in particular the vimentin intermediate filaments, are involved in maintaining articular cartilage matrix homeostasis and their involvement in mechanotransduction. Emma has established a research niche in mechano-signalling and the chondrocyte cytoskeleton, and currently co-supervises two PhD students who are investigating cytoskeletal element dynamics in osteoarthritic cartilage and intervertebral disc. Website Link ...