The annual network meeting, on the theme of Interdisciplinary Research in Musculoskeletal Science, was held on Friday 2nd December 2016 at Buckingham House, Murray Edwards College. Attended by 50 members of the network from across the Schools of the University, Professor Andrew McCaskie gave an introductory talk explaining the aims of the network, and outlined the multidisciplinary nature of the translational research that is taking place within the University of Cambridge towards alleviating the suffering caused by Osteoarthritis.

Talks demonstrating the value of collaborative working across disciplines in musculoskeletal science were given by Dr James MacKay, who spoke about MRI of knee osteoarthritis for experimental medicine studies, Dr Eleftheria Zeggini who talked about Progress in understanding the genomic landscape of osteoarthritis, Alex Justin and Dr Roger Brooks who spoke about a Multi-casting approach for vascular networks in cellularized hydrogels, and Professor Melinda Duer who asked: What role do metabolic acids play in mineral structure of bone?

There were poster presentations by Sophie Hackinger (Sanger); Francesca Beaton (Division of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery); Dr Andrew Gilllis (Department of Zoology); Dr Michael Sutcliffe (Department of Engineering); Dr Konstantinos Hatzikotoulos (Sanger); Dr Graham Treece  (Department of Engineering); Sophie Frankham-Wells (Division of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery); Ilya Burkov (Bone Group); and Dr Tim Linsday ( Division of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery) and these were the catalyst for interaction and lively discussion afterwards.