James Edwards

James Edwards leads the Skeletal Ageing and Regeneration research group at the University of Oxford. This work is focused upon revealing causes of ageing-related skeletal decline and exploring novel approaches to better treat the consequences of musculoskeletal ageing.

Prof Edwards graduated from Wadham College, University of Oxford with a D.Phil (Ph.D.) from the Medical Sciences Division, Nuffield Dept. of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences after completing research work studying bone tumour pathology and TNF-family ligands in the bone remodelling process. This was followed by cellular, molecular and pre-clinical research at the University of Texas Health Science Centre at San Antonio, and later as part of the founding research team at the Vanderbilt Centre for Bone Biology. During this time Prof Edwards developed a strong research theme investigating links between ageing and longevity mechanisms and the onset of musculoskeletal disease, with work recognised with ASBMR, ECTS and IBMS awards. This ongoing work forms the basis of the Oxford Skeletal Ageing and Regeneration group, which aims to understand the causes of age-related skeletal decline and better address the consequences of such disorders. In recent years, this has included the study of sirtuin biology in musculoskeletal tissues and how the acetylation status of key intracellular proteins fine tunes normal cell biology and function with increasing age, how the cellular recycling process of autophagy declines in ageing cartilage and can be activated to protect against arthritis disease, and how novel degradable alloys can improve fracture healing and bone repair.

The Oxford Musculoskeletal Ageing group has been funded by awards from Arthritis Research UK, Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Orthopaedic Research UK, NC3Rs and through industry collaborations.