James, Yuming and Niamh, together with alumni Nidal, Rebecca and Stefaan attended the 2023 Annual Meeting of the ORS in Dallas, Texas. James presented a poster, and Yuming and Niamh presented podium talks. Ireland was well represented as the 2023 Guest Nation!
Nidal was awarded the prestigious New Investigator Recognition Award (NIRA) from the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) at their 2022 Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida, USA. NIRA finalists present a poster and give a podium presentation and are interviewed by the NIRA committee, and award recipients chosen based on quality and presentation of material. Awardees receive a certificate and a generous cash prize. Many congratulations Nidal on the fantastic achievement!
The Developmental Biomechanics group headed en masse to a sunny and hot Barcelona for the EMBO Workshop on Limb Development and Regeneration: New Tools for a Classic Model System. Niamh and Yuming gave talks while Devi, James, Josepha, Nidal, Pati (our talented MEng project student!) and Vivien presented posters. Devi and Pati also gave flash talks to highlight the work in their posters. The group enjoyed sampling the lovely Catalan food and the sea swimming right beside the conference venue!
Niamh presented an invited talk at the 9th International Conference on Children’s Bone Health (ICCBH) in Salzburg from the 22-25th June 2019. The meeting provided an interesting forum for presenting the group’s research as many of the participants are from an endocrinology background.
Saima and Niamh both gave presentations at the 2019 Orthopaedic Research Society in Austin Texas in early February. Saima presented her NIRA-shortlisted work on “Muscle loading determines distribution of collagens in the developing skeleton” while Niamh gave an invited talk to the ORS Tendon Section on “The biomechanics and mechanobiology of skeletogenesis”
The entire group (including alumnus Stefaan) traveled to Dublin for the 2018 World Congress of Biomechanics in July. Between us, we presented seven talks and one poster, as listed below. Aurélie and Kaushik also presented abstracts based on their PhD projects. Niamh was Co-Chair for the ‘Emerging Areas’ Track and a Session Chair for the “Biomechanics of Musculoskeletal Development” session. A particular highlight of the meeting was Stefaan giving a plenary lecture to mark the Perren Award.
Aurélie: Critical timings of fetal mobility for spine and rib development
Cristian: Frequency and duration of mechanical stimulation influence mineralisation of developing chick limbs cultured in vitro
Devi: Timing of movement is essential for cavitation and morphogenesis of the developing chick hip joint
Kaushik: Musculoskeletal forces and prenatal skeletogenesis: a murine model
Niamh: Directing cartilage growth in vitro: learning from developmental biology
Saima: Characterisation of collagen distribution in the prenatal forelimb using immunofluorescence and high-resolution microscopy
Stefaan: Biomechanical stimulation of the fetal skeleton linked to risk factors for developmental dysplasia of the hip
Vivien: Shoulder joint shape is rescued as development progresses when limb musculature is absent in the murine embryo
(Image credits: Cristian Parisi, Devi Bridglal, @WCB2018, Saima Ahmed, Aurélie Levillain)
Congratulations to Aurélie and Cristian who have received travel awards from the European Society of Biomechanics for the World Congress of Biomechanics in Dublin in July! Aurélie will present her work on ‘Critical timings of fetal mobility for spine and rib development’ and Cristian will present work entitled ‘Frequency and duration of mechanical stimulation influence mineralisation of developing chick limbs cultured in vitro’. Well done!
Niamh was the lead organiser of a meeting hosted by the Royal Society on the ‘Mechanics of Development’ at Chicheley Hall from 5-7 February. The topics covered included brain, bone, heart and gut development, and the speakers and participants were from a broad range of backgrounds including cell biology, developmental biology, physics and engineering. Aurelie presented a poster, and several other members of the group attended the meeting.
Devi, Niamh and Vivien attended the 14th International Conference on Limb Development and Regeneration in Edinburgh in July. Devi presented a talk entitled Identifying critical time points for early chick hip development, Vivien presented a poster entitled The effects of fetal immobility on shoulder joint shape over development, and Niamh gave an invited talk on Fetal movement matters: the importance of biomechanical influences in shaping the prenatal skeleton. Devi and Vivien made the most of their time in Scotland and danced the night away at the traditional ceili! Well done to both- pictured here at Vivien’s poster.
Developmental Biomechanics 