Researcher awarded international scholarship to study knee osteoarthritis

Researcher Maria Inês Almeida, from the Tumor and Microenvironment Interactions group, recently won an ON/ESSKA Kick-Starter grant, awarded by the ON Foundation, worth ten thousand euros.

Maria Inês Almeida’s project focuses on knee osteoarthritis, more specifically on cellular senescence (when cells lose the ability to divide), which has implications for aging, tissue regeneration and the response to tumor processes. This project, explains the researcher “aims to control the senescence of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) using RNA molecules”.

The proliferation capacity of these cells, their differentiation potential (including the ability to differentiate into chondrocytes and osteoblasts) and their immuno-modeling properties are characteristics that have driven clinical trials using these cells. However, explains Maria Inês Almeida “one of the limitations is the senescence of mesenchymal stem cells and that is precisely what we are going to try to overcome”.

This funding, highlights the researcher, “will allow us to obtain essential preliminary data for participating and submitting projects in European competitions”. The research work will be carried out at i3S and at the Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Department of Molecular Biology, at ICBAS.

About the ON Foundation

ON is an independent international non-profit foundation that promotes research in the area of orthopedic tissue regeneration, including the use of biological therapies to drive innovation and develop better patient-centered treatment solutions.