Prof Martin Knight
BEng, MSc, PhD, FHEA
Research Funding
On this page:
- Current Funded Research Projects
- Current PhD Studentship Projects
- Previous Funded Research Projects
- Previous PhD Studentship Projects
- Other Research Projects
Current Funded Research Projects
Human synovium-cartilage organ-chip for personalised surgical screeningFunding source: Versus ArthritisStart: 01-04-2022 / End: 31-03-2025 Amount: £311,203 Scientists at Queen Mary University of London are creating a human knee-on-a-chip device to understand how arthritis develops in individual patients and to test treatment strategies. The so-called organ-on-a-chip will consist of living cells taken from the knee joints of patients with osteoarthritis. The cells from patient’s cartilage and other tissues within the knee, will be grown within the laboratory in a carefully bioengineering organ-on-a-chip and used to understand which patients respond well to treatment. This will ultimately allow clinicians to optimise therapies to individual patients in an approach known as precision medicine or personalised medicine. |
Funding source: Emulate Inc. |
Funding source: CRUK |
Funding source: MRC Medical Research Council |
Funding source: CR-UK Cancer Research UK |
Emulate Organs-on-Chips Centre TechnicianFunding source: Emulate Inc.Start: 01-01-2021 / End: 31-12-2022 Amount: £49,584 |
Funding source: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council |
Current PhD Studentship Projects
Effect of substrate stiffness on primary cilia signallingFunding source: China Scholarship Council (CSC)Start: 03-09-2018 / End: 02-09-2022 This China Scholarship Council (CSC) studentship examines the effect of substrate stiffness on primary cilia signalling. Initial studies will examine the effect on chondrocyte cilia expression and IFT-dependent inflammatory signalling. |
Previous Funded Research Projects
Funding source: Queen Mary Innovations |
EPSRC Core Equipment CallFunding source: EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilStart: 13-02-2020 / End: 12-08-2021 |
Funding source: MRC Medical Research Council |
Funding source: EU Commission - Horizon 2020 |
Funding source: Commission of the European Community |
Does the biological clock within cartilage align to diurnal patterns in activity?Funding source: EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilStart: 01-10-2019 / End: 31-03-2020 |
Funding source: MRC |
Development of a synovium-chondrocyte organ-on-a-chip model with integrated biomechanical stimulationFunding source: EPSRC OA Tech Network plus Pump-Priming Project GrantStart: 01-07-2019 / End: 31-12-2019 We plan to develop an organ-on-a chip microfluidic model to investigate the effects of mechanical stimulation on the interaction between musculoskeletal cells within the joint. This chip will incorporate the multiple cell types seen in cartilage and the surrounding synovial environment to mimic human tissue architecture, cellular microenvironment and signalling. |
Parmaceutical modulation of cilia expression-Miss Jeha KwonFunding source: Royal College of SurgeonsStart: 07-05-2019 / End: 07-11-2019 |
Funding source: B.B.S.R.C. |
Determining the role of exosomes in cellular senescence and ageingFunding source: BBSRCStart: 03-10-2016 / End: 02-01-2019 The number elderly population in the UK has dramatically increased in the last few decades. As a consequence, conditions associated with ageing, such as cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, are having a huge impact on the public health system and the UK economy. It is therefore imperative to promote research ... |
The effect of cobalt ions on primary cilia in bone cellsFunding source: Royal College of SurgeonsStart: 01-05-2018 / End: 01-12-2018 |
Funding source: E.R.C. |
Funding source: Wellcome Trust |
Funding source: Bowel & Cancer Research |
The role of primary cilia in cartilage health and disease (C Chandrakumar)Funding source: The Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandStart: 31-12-2015 / End: 31-07-2016 |
Funding source: Arthritis Research UK |
Funding source: AO Foundation |
Funding source: EPSRC |
The Chondrocyte Primary Cilium - A Purinergic Mechanoreceptor?Funding source: Wellcome TrustStart: 02-02-2009 / End: 01-02-2012 The aim of this Wellcome Trust funded research project is to test the hypothesis that the primary cilium acts as a fundamental mechanoreceptor in articular chondrocytes triggering mechanosensitive intracellular calcium signalling via a purinergic pathway that involves the release of ATP. We will elucidate the underlying… |
Mechanical loading bioreactors for production of tissue engineered cartilageFunding source: EPSRCStart: 09-11-2000 / End: 10-11-2006 Background and Context Articular cartilage provides a low friction, low wear bearing surface within synovial joints. The tissue has poor intrinsic repair properties due to its avascular nature and consequently cartilage damage progresses to debilitating arthritis with joint pain and stiffness. Existing repair techniques based on… |
Mechanical loading modulates cytoskeletal organisation in living chondrocytesFunding source: BBSRCStart: 01-01-2199 / End: 10-09-2006 Background and Context Articular cartilage provides a low friction, low wear bearing surface within synovial joints. Existing approaches for treatment of cartilage injury or disease have poor long term functionality, particularly in younger patients. There is therefore a real clinical need for improved cartilage repair… |
Tissue Engineering Animation WorkshopsFunding source: EPSRCStart: 01-01-2199 / End: 22-03-2006 This EPSRC funded Partnership for Public Awareness was in collaboratiom with City Learning Centre and Centre of the Cell. We ran a series of animation workshops in which groups of school children learnt about different aspects of medical science. This involved a talk from a senior scientist followed by two carefully structured… |
Previous PhD Studentship Projects
Funding source: Principal's Scholarship |
Changes in primary cilia mediate the anti-inflammatory effects of mechanical loadingFunding source: China Scholarship Council (CSC)Start: 29-09-2015 / End: 28-09-2019 This new PhD studentship follows on from our previous work highlighting the importance of primary cilia in inflammation. Here we will examine whether mechanical loading is anti-inflammatory due to its effect on reducing primary cilia length. The study will initially focus on articular cartilage for which IL-1B stimulates cartilage degeneration as seen in osteoarthritis. Previous studies have shown that compressive mechanical loading is anti-inflammatory. Studies have shown that primary cilia are required for inflammatory signalling and are also modulated by mechanical loading. This study aims to identify the effect of mechanical loading on IL-1B induced inflammatory signalling and test the hypothesis that mechanical loading modulates IL-1? signalling by regulating primary cilia length and trafficking. PhD Student: Su Fu |
Biophysical characterization of bleb-based migration in cancer cellsFunding source: China Scholarship Council (CSC)Start: 01-09-2015 / End: 01-09-2019 We aim to characterize how the cytoskeleton and ERM proteins polarize their intracellular localization as main driver for directed bleb-based cell migration in cancer cells |
Funding source: Institute of Bioengineering EPSRC PhD Studentship |
The role of primary cilia in tendinopathyFunding source: Institute of Bioengineering EPSRC PhD StudentshipStart: 10-10-2013 / End: 20-06-2017 Tendon is mechanosensitive, maintaining tissue health in response to applied loads. Overload is a key contributor to the development of tendon pathologies, know as tendinopathies; a range of highly debilitating and increasingly prevalent conditions2-3. However, the mechanisms associated with tendinopathy development remain unclear. Current evidence supports a combined mechanical ... |
Funding source: Institute of Bioengineering PhD Studentship |
The influence of osmotic challenge on chondrocyte mechanicsFunding source: China ScholarshipStart: 30-09-2011 / End: 01-10-2015 This PhD studentship examines the mechanical properties of articular chondrocytes and the influence of osmotic pressure. In particular hypo osmotic challenge results in an increase in cell size and associated changes in cell mechanics. The study involves quantification of cellular mechanics using micropipette aspiration and… |
Funding source: EPSRC |
The role of mechanical loading in modulating chondrocyte hedgehog signalling via primary cilia.Funding source: BBSRCStart: 01-10-2009 / End: 30-09-2013 Background Chondrocytes express primary cilia consisting of a membrane coated axoneme which projects into the pericellular matrix and an intracellular basal body that comprises the most mature of the two centrioles. The function of this organelle in cartilage is unknown, however recent studies indicate that the primary… |
Viscoelastic biomechanics behaviour of living cells at a cellular and subcellular levelFunding source: EPSRCStart: 01-10-2009 / End: 02-10-2012 The biomechanics of living cells and their response to mechanical forces is critical to the function and health of a variety of tissues including articular cartilage. This field of mechanobiology therefore has enormous potential to be exploited in the evaluation of pharmacological agents and the development of tissue engineering… |
Tensile stretch and hypoxia influence the function of isolated neuronsFunding source: BBSRCStart: 01-09-2007 / End: 31-08-2010 Neurons within the peripheral nervous system experience considerable tensile strains associated with various pathological conditions, and this can result in pain and loss of function. Similarly, spinal cord injury is characterized by a primary mechanical event that produces immediate cell damage or death and a slower phase of… |
Development of a multi photon FLIM technique for non-invasive oxygen monitoring in cell seeded constructsFunding source: EPSRCStart: 01-09-2006 / End: 31-08-2010 Overall hypothesis: Cell-mediated metabolic gradients within three dimensional cellular structures control the development of spatial patterns of cell viability and differentiation Objectives: To develop and optimise micro-environmental monitoring technologies to assess temporal and spatial gradients of oxygen,… |
Ultrasound regulates chondrocytes seeded within tissue engineered scaffolds.Funding source: EPSRCStart: 02-10-2006 / End: 30-09-2009 Collaborative project with Smith & Nephew who have funded an EPSRC CASE PhD studentship (Natalie Vaughen). The project investigates the potential of ultrasound to improve the functionality of cartilage tissue engineering and the mechanotransduction pathways through which this occurs. |
Other Research Projects
Urine Flow Analysis: Biophysics to diagnosticsWe have developed a new computational model of capillary-waves in free-jet flows, and applied this to the problem of urological diagnosis in this first ever study of the biophysics behind the characteristic shape of the urine stream as it exits the urethral meatus (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXezbw_xWoE). The computational… |
Mathematical modelling of cortex-membrane adhesive failure: viscoelastic deformation of cellsIn an cell aspiration experiment, a cell is partially sucked in a micropipette by applying a suction pressure. If the applied pressure is larger than a threshold - which depends sensitive on the cell type - the cell membrane detaches from the underlying cortex, leading to the formation of a bleb that protrudes into the pipette.… |