Why prenatal movements matter for postnatal health
Cristian is leaving Imperial College to take up an exciting new position in industry with global healthcare company BTG. We are very sorry to lose him but wish him all the best with the next step of his career- good luck Cristian!!!
A warm welcome to Nidal Khatib who joined the Developmental Biomechanics group in January. Nidal will be using our mechanostimulation bioreactor system to explore mechanotransductory pathways and mechanisms acting during prenatal skeletal development. His project is a collaboration with Prof David Hoey from Trinity College Dublin, and is funded by Niamh’s ERC Starting Grant.
The group celebrated an “eco-friendly” Secret Santa this year, with homemade or edible gifts being the rule. Some very tasty treats were shared, but the best gift was definitely the “mini Kaushik” that Yuming made, complete with computer and signature water bottle. Kudos Yuming! The secret santa fun was followed by a very nice Indian meal in South Kensington. Happy Christmas from all the Nowlan group!
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)
Kaushik has been awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, to start in September 2018. Kaushik’s fellowship is entitled “Mechanobiology of Proprioceptive Regulation of Bone and Joint Morphogenesis” and will involve collaboration between the Developmental Biomechanics group at Imperial College London, and the Zelzer Lab at the Weizmann Institute in Israel. Congratulations Kaushik!
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!
Congratulations to Stefaan and co-authors whose paper entitled “Altered Biomechanical Stimulation of the Developing Hip Joint in Presence of Hip Dysplasia Risk Factors” (soon to be published in the Journal of Biomechanics) has been awarded the 2018 S.M. Perren Award by the European Society of Biomechanics! Stefaan will present a plenary lecture of the World Congress of Biomechanics in Dublin, Ireland in July. 
Congratulations to Saima who has been awarded, not one, but two travel awards/grants for conference travel this summer. Saima received the British Society of Matrix Biology FECTS bursary to attend the Matrix Biology Europe conference (worth approx £1,000) and the the Physiological Society Travel Grant, worth up to £700, to attend the 8th World Congress of Biomechanics, Dublin: Well done Saima!
Very best wishes to Dr Stefaan Verbruggen, who has started a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship. He will spend 2018 in Columbia University and 2019 in Queen Mary University in London. After more than three years in the group, Stefaan will be much missed by all of us! Stefaan’s send-off nicely coincided with our Christmas Party, pictured here. 
