Dr Daniel Kelly, lecturer in TCD’s School of Engineering, and a Principal Investigator at the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering, has been awarded a major European Research Council (ERC) Starter Grant of €1.5 million. These awards are given to only 300 top scientists across Europe, less than 10% of those who apply.

Dr Kelly’s research focuses on stem cells called Mesenchymal Stem Cells that can be isolated from within damaged or diseased joints such as the knee to regenerate and repair articular cartilage which could prevent arthritis. His research investigates how environmental factors regulate adult stem cells, and the subsequent functional properties of the tissues they produce.

The first theme of Dr Kelly’s research project will determine whether Mesenchymal Stem Cells  (MSCs) freshly isolated from fatty and synovial tissue in an injured joint, and then embedded in a hydrogel containing microbead-encapsulated growth factors, can used to engineer functional cartilage tissue.

The second theme of the project will explore an alternative therapy for cartilage defect repair.  Specifically, the objective is to tissue engineer in vitro a functional tissue with a zonal structure copying that of normal articular cartilage using MSCs.