The Centre

Information about the Centre's history, as well as its aims and the scope of its research.

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History

The University of Sheffield’s Medical School has a strong track record in basic, translational and clinical bone research.

The recent era began with the establishment of the Department of Chemical Pathology in 1974 by Professor Jack Martin and continued as the Department of Human Metabolism and Clinical Biochemistry under the leadership of Professor Graham Russell for 25 years to 2001.

Its standing in bone research is best illustrated in an independent assessment by Evidence Ltd, which ranked the University of Sheffield top in the UK (UK Bone Research Report 2007). ISI Thomson ranked the University of Sheffield number one in the UK and among the top four academic centres in the world for its research into osteoporosis.

The Mellanby Centre for Bone Research was established by The University of Sheffield in 2009 as a centre of excellence which brings together researchers from the Medical School, the School of Health and Related Research, the School of Clinical Dentistry, the Department of Biomedical Sciences, the Insigneo Institute and the Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine.

Aims

The centre aims to

  • establish a focus for bone research at the University of Sheffield
  • foster the development of inter-disciplinary research across the University of Sheffield
  • develop collaborative research programmes and grant applications
  • develop links with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry
  • widen the profile of bone research at the University of Sheffield

Research

Clinical research interests span skeletal diseases of childhood through to the elderly person, from childhood bone diseases (including osteogenesis imperfecta and osteopetrosis) to metabolic bone diseases such as osteoporosis, tumour-induced bone diseases such as multiple myeloma and metastatic bone disease (breast and prostate bone metastases) and osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Centre for the Integration of Research into Musculoskeletal Ageing is an Arthritis Research/Medical Research Council Centre of Excellence based at the Universities of Sheffield, Liverpool and Newcastle (CIMA).

Our clinical research is underpinned by a world-class programme of basic biomedical research, strengthened by continued investment and the relocation of all laboratory activities to one floor of the newly refurbished Henry Wellcome Laboratories in the Medical School.

We have also created two core laboratories, one for bone biochemistry and the other for bone analysis, each of which is supported by HEFCE-funded and grant-funded technicians. These laboratories contain the latest automated immunoassay analysers and state-of-the-art high-resolution microCT imaging equipment and the equipment and expertise for undertaking quantitative dynamic bone histomorphometry