The meeting focused on "Emerging themes in translational tendon science" and the organising team aimed to show the state of play of tendon research internationally and to highlight the collaborations between clinicians, engineers, biologists and scientists that are essential for progress in the treatment of tendon disorders.
"We identified a gap in how tendon research was being shared and disseminated, and wanted to close it by starting a conference which gathered all that is happening in tendon research and fostered collaborations within this incredibly multidisciplinary community" said Professor Stephanie Dakin and co-lead organiser of the conference.
Topics at this translational meeting spanned pathogenic mechanisms of tendon disease through physics and mechanics of tendon, biomaterials, bioreactors and the state of play in clinical trials. Eighty-five delegates attended this international meeting, including biologists, clinicians, allied health professionals, bioengineers and mathematicians.
"We are pleased to have been able to deliver a strong programme, of value to the field and the research community, and are looking forward to seeing the Tendon UK Conference grow and continue to encourage and inspire researchers that often feel isolated in a niche topic" commented co-lead organiser Dr Sarah Snelling.
Image: Professor Andrew Carr (centre) with Young Investigator Award winners Edward Stace (right) and Adam EM Jorgensen.
NDORMS PhD student Edward Stace was joint winner of the Young Investigator (YI) Award for best podium presentation, with his talk on "Healthy and diseased tendon fibroblasts respond differently to electrospun biomaterials".
Adam EM Jorgensen, from the Institute of Sports Medicine, Copenhagen was the other winner of the YI award, with a talk on "Carbon-14 bomb pulse reveals abnormal tendon collagen turnover before symptoms of tendinopathy".
Image: 1st Tendon UK Conference organising committee, programme committee and session chairs. Front row, right to left: Dr Sarah Snelling, Professor Stephanie Dakin, Professor Andrew Carr, Professor Jonathan Cook. Back row right to left: Professor Cameron Brown, Professor Philippa Hulley, Dr Pierre-Alexis Mouthuy, Professor Mark Thompson
Professor Andrew Carr hosted the conference, which was organised by Professor Stephanie Dakin, Dr Sarah Snelling and Dr Pierre-Alexis Mouthuy.
The organising team would like to thank all who helped prepare and deliver the meeting and all attendees for making the first tendon UK conference such a success.
Event photography by Vivacious Mel Photography.
