Dissecting the cellular mechanisms which underpin Stickler syndrome and Osteoarthritis in a zebrafish model (360G-Wellcome-203960_Z_16_A)

Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease globally, with 8 million people suffering from this disease in the UK alone. Currently there is no cure for osteoarthritis: the only treatments available focus on pain relief with many causing unpleasant side effects when used for long periods of time. By understanding more about the genes which are involved in osteoarthritis onset, we may be able to identify new drug targets to prevent disease occurrence. To do this we need to know how changes to genes affect cells, hard tissue and soft tissue in the joint. This project will use zebrafish to understand how changes to genes, which are seen in patients with osteoarthritis, may alter joint development over time. It will also look at genes which cause Stickler syndrome, a very severe form of osteoarthritis with early onset, to further understand how osteoarthritic joints develop. This will help us to unpick what goes wrong throughout development to give rise to the altered joint shape seen in osteoarthritis, and will enable us to find potential therapeutic targets to improve the treatment of osteoarthritis.