UK Musculoskeletal Translational Research Collaboration
The UK Musculoskeletal Translational Research Collaboration (UK MSK TRC) aligns investment in MSK translational research, creating a UK-wide ambition and focus to drive cutting edge translational research to improve outcomes for patients.
We work collaboratively with all sectors of the health and care ecosystem including the life sciences industry, charities, and funders to deliver shared strategic goals, utilising national expertise and resources to develop and novel innovations to benefit people with Rheumatic & Musculoskeletal Diseases (RMDs).
“The TRC is incredibly important from an operational perspective. With established expert relationships and networks, it is a strong partner who can deliver. A TRC-partnered study adds legitimacy, demonstrating the scientific question being answered is for the community.”
The UK MSK TRC is a collaboration between the NIHR and the charity Versus Arthritis, bringing together the expertise in musculoskeletal research of Versus Arthritis Experimental Arthritis and Osteoarthritis Treatment Centres with NIHR infrastructure.
“The UK MSK TRC is the mechanism that facilitates conversations with pharma, attracting collaborations for clinical study groups. It is an excellent vehicle to support study design and delivery in experimental medicine that addresses musculoskeletal diseases.”
Who we are
MSK TRC Centres
The Versus Arthritis and NIHR partnership creates a national initiative of Versus Arthritis investment in Experimental Arthritis and Osteoarthritis Treatment Centres and NIHR infrastructures including Biomedical Research Centres (BRC), Clinical Research Facilities (CRF), and the Research Delivery Network (RDN).
The Versus Arthritis and NIHR MSK partnership is led by:
- Professor Maya Buch, NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, as the Chair
- Professor Stefan Siebert, RACE - Research into Inflammatory Arthritis Centre Versus Arthritis, as the Deputy Chair.
The MSK TRC comprises of 17 TRC centres, which are world-leaders in musculoskeletal translational research and based within top NHS university partnerships.
Each TRC Centre is represented by a clinical academic lead who is an advocate for collaboration.
Clinical academic leads
- Professor Maya Buch – Chair
NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre - Professor Stefan Siebert - Deputy Chair
RACE - Research into Inflammatory Arthritis Centre Versus Arthritis in Glasgow - Professor Michael Beresford
EATC4Children - Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre for Children - Dr. Andrew Filer
NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre - Professor Ernest Choy
CREATE - Cardiff Regional Experimental Arthritis Treatment and Evaluation Centre - Dr. Laura Coates
NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre - Dr. Arthur Pratt
NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre - Professor Andrew McCaskie
NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre - Professor Sallie Lamb
Exeter Biomedical Research Centre - Professor Mike Ehrenstein
NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre - Professor Costantino Pitzalis
Barts and the London BRC - Professor Christopher Edwards
NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre - Dr. Francesco Del Galdo
NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre - Dr. Ben Seymour
Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre - Professor Matthew Pickering
NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre - Professor Lucy Wedderburn
Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre - Professor David Walsh
NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre and Pain Centre Versus Arthritis.
UKMTRC overarching principles
Patient Centric
Transparency
Equality, diversity and inclusion
Our Aims
Accelerate high impact, national trials
- Establish a nationally set strategy and priorities of RMDs
- Promote innovative experimental studies for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of RMDs
Improve national capability and connect infrastructure for efficient delivery of research
- Deliver experimental studies through efficient utilisation of shared infrastructure resources and platforms
- Foster collaboration based on shared expertise
- Engage with research partners, such as industry and other research charities, and leverage funding
Enhance national networks
- Build academic capability, capacity, and leadership
- Attract early industry engagement to develop meaningful experimental studies
- Promote equality, diversity, and inclusion, embedded within a value-driven culture of the TRC
Our workstreams
We specialise in the development of exploratory protocols, biomarkers discovery and in understanding the pathophysiology and disease mechanisms in a range of inflammatory and rheumatoid disorders.
We regularly review areas of unmet clinical need to determine emerging topics that could become a focus for the MSK TRC. We are keen to hear from other MSK disciplines that are not listed as a workstream. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact us.
The NIHR-Versus Arthritis UK MSK-TRC is currently developing UK-wide collaborative research programmes in several thematic areas of musculoskeletal research and medicine.
Patient and public involvement and engagement, and the life-course approach are cross-cutting and embedded within the activities of the workstreams.
The workstreams are:
Inflammatory Arthritis (IA) Continuum , with 4 sub themes:
- Innovative trial design - Prof. James Watson (Newcastle)
- At risk - Dr Arthur Pratt (Newcastle) and Dr Kulver Mankia (Leeds)
- Refractory inflammatory arthritis - Prof. Maya H Buch (Manchester)
- Seronegative IA - Prof. Stefan Siebert (Glasgow)
Connective Tissue Diseases (CTD)/Anti Nuclear Antibody (ANA+)
Prof. Francesco DelGaldo (Leeds), Dr John Reynolds, (Birmingham) and Dr Faye Cooles (Newcastle)
Onco-Rheumatology, with 2 sub-themes
Checkpoint inhibitor and immune-related adverse events - Prof. Ben Fisher (Birmingham)
Cancer and autoimmunity - Prof. Hector Chinoy (Manchester) and Dr. Alex Oldroyd (Manchester)
Common Musculoskeletal Conditions
Dr. Fiona Watt (Imperial College London) and Prof. Andrew McCaskie (Cambridge)
Cross cutting themes
In addition, the following areas cut across the 5 workstreams:
- Pain - Prof. David Walsh (Nottingham) and Prof. Nidhi Sofat (St Georges)
- Methodology workstreams, with 3 sub themes
- Innovative trial design - Prof. James Wason (Newcastle)
- Biomarker methods-analysis - Prof. Andrew Filer (Birmingham)
- Data harmonisation (real world data) - Prof. Pedro Machado (UCL) and Saskia Lawson-Tovey (Manchester)
How to work with us as a researcher
The UK MSK TRC supports proposals that intend to develop, design, and deliver initiatives at scale, reflecting the size and ambition of the collaboration for musculoskeletal experimental medicine, to bring benefit to people with arthritis.
For further details on working with us and our remit, please visit our guidance document.
Benefits of MSK TRC Support:
- Access to UK-wide expertise
- Administration support with study proposals
- NIHR business development guidance
- Study development expertise and input from PPIE resources (where appropriate)
- Expertise and collaborative opportunities from other TRCs
How to work with us an an Industry Collaborator
The MSK TRC can work with you to develop, co-design or co-deliver your studies and research ideas.
We have the expertise, infrastructure and capacity to conduct study feasibility, facilitate industry collaboration workshops, advance efficient and effective development and delivery of studies, and much more.
The MSK TRC is keen to attract early industry engagement. If you have interests that align with the TRC’s workstreams and activities or if you would like to discuss a possible collaboration that is not currently listed – please get in touch, as we are looking to work together and collaborate from an early stage.
There are multiple ways that the MSK TRC can support industry engagement – some examples can be found in our case studies.
Collaborating with UK Strategies
Explore some of our complementary programmes that align with the MSK TRC activities and workstreams and are connected by their leading clinical and academic researchers.
Advanced Pain Discovery Platform (ADPD): A 5 year, £24M initiative delivering a consortium-based platform of national scale, generating discovery and early translational science focused on pain and developing new treatment approaches to address a wide spectrum of chronic and debilitating clinical conditions.
Arthritis Therapy Acceleration Programme (A-TAP): Kennedy Trust, University of Birmingham, University of Oxford and NHS trusts. To provide a platform Stratified Pathology, matching the right drug to the right indication early indrug discovery (RA, SpA, Sjogen’s, IBD).
