Congratulations to Dan Rowson who passed his PhD viva. Dan's PhD thesis investigated the effect of mechanical stimulation on tendon cells in order to better understand the process of tendon injury. In particular, Dan investigated the effect of mechanical forces on tiny hair-like cellular structures structures, known as primary cilia. These are important in regulating cell function and response to mechanical, chemical or inflammatory stimuli.

This studentship was funded by the Institute of Bioengineering and supervised by Prof Martin Knight and Prof Hazel Screen providing multidisciplinary expertise in primary cilia, mechanobiology and tendon. The team published the first paper showing that different regions of the tendon exhibit variation in primary cilia expression and response to changes in mechanical stimulation which correlate with localised biomechanical degradation of the tissue (Rowson et al. Journal of Orthopaedic Research 2016).

Paper: (PDF) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5216897/pdf/JOR-34-2146.pdf

Updated by: Martin Knight