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Dr Clare Thompson wins the F1000 prize

23 July 2014

Dr Clare Thompson wins the F1000 prize
Dr Clare Thompson has won the F1000 prize for her poster at the AO foundation meeting ‘Cartilage & Disc: Repair and Regeneration’. The poster entitled ‘Lithium chloride triggers primary cilia elongation and inhibits hedgehog signalling in articular chondrocytes’ examined the effects of lithium, a drug commonly used for the treatment of mental illness, on the structure and function of the chondrocyte primary cilium.

Clare demonstrated that the primary cilium, a microtubule based organelle present on chondrocytes, the cells of the articular cartilage, increases in length in response to lithium treatment. This was associated with the inhibition of ligand dependent hedgehog signalling. Hedgehog signalling is activated in osteoarthritis and promotes the development and progression of this disease. Thus this study highlights the potential for targeting the primary cilium as a novel therapeutic approach by which to modulate hedgehog signalling and cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis.
Contact:Dr Clare Thompson
Email:clare.l.thompson@qmul.ac.uk

Updated by: Corinne Hanlon