CIMA celebrates ten years of research with CMAR

Posted on: 8 June 2023 by Elisha Langley in June posts 2023

The joint CIMA/CMAR conference recently took place at the University of Birmingham celebrating the 10-year anniversary of both centres. The theme of the meeting was 'Musculoskeletal ageing research – from discovery to improved health'.

The MRC-Arthritis Research UK Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing (CIMA) is a collaboration between researchers and clinicians at the University of Liverpool, University of Sheffield and Newcastle University and is funded by the Medical Research Council and Arthritis Research UK. The Centre was established in 2012 and its success was recognised by the renewal of its funding in 2017. CMAR integrates and expands complementary research and postgraduate training activity of the University of Birmingham and the University of Nottingham, together with their associated NHS hospital trusts.

The three-day event included presentations from Liverpool’s Dr Caroline Staunton on the regulators of H202 transport and homeostasis in skeletal muscle, Professor Anne McArdle on MicroAge, Dr Vanja Pekovic-Vaughan on measuring clock gene activity, and Professor Mandy Peffers on how CIMA helped her with her researcher progression as well as many other CIMA presenters from the University of Sheffield and Newcastle University.

The event closed with the presentation of prizes for the posters on display across the three days. The winners were:

  • Bone Research Society oral presentation prize – Dr Elizabeth Laird (University of Liverpool)
  • Physiological Society oral presentations prizes – Thomas Nicholson and Eleanor Jones
  • Physiological Society poster presentation prizes – Dr Susanne Wijesinghe, Jack Roberts and Vincent Gauthier

Dr Elizabeth Laird from ILCaMS said, "I was delighted to be awarded the Bone Research Society best presentation prize at the recent CIMA/CMAR joint meeting. The work presented was the culmination of an MRC-funded project carried out by post-doctoral research associate Dr Katie Lee and involving co-investigators from the Department of Musculoskeletal and Ageing Science at the University of Liverpool. The meeting was a great opportunity to hear about the achievements of both Centres over the last 10 years in advancing the field of Musculoskeletal Ageing, and to meet old colleagues and new collaborators."