Dr Suzanne Eldridge

Profile

Dr Eldridge is a molecular biologist with a background in engineering whose main research interest is in the regeneration of musculoskeletal tissues. During her PhD she discovered the role of Agrin in cartilage homeostasis. Her predominant aim is to develop new therapeutic technologies which will either prevent cartilage breakdown or enhance cartilage repair, for use in disease (such as osteoarthritis) and following cartilage trauma.

Research

Group members

Aida Barawi (PhD student), Manasi Sayilakshmy (Technician); Zara Khan (PhD student)

Summary

Dr Eldridge is a molecular biologist with a background in engineering whose main research interest is in the regeneration of musculoskeletal tissues. During her PhD she discovered the role of Agrin in cartilage homeostasis. Her predominant aim is to develop new therapeutic technologies which will either prevent cartilage breakdown or enhance cartilage repair, for use in disease (such as osteoarthritis) and following cartilage trauma.

Opportunities in the group

Dr Eldridge has a range of projects available to students including:

• Short/long term undergraduate projects (either as part of a degree programme or independently)
• MSc projects
• PhD studentships (funded when possible) 

Please email Dr Eldridge at s.e.eldridge@qmul.ac.uk for more information.

Key Publications

• Thorup, A.-S., Caxaria, S., Thomas, B. L., Suleman, Y., Nalesso, G., Luyten, F. P., Dell’Accio, F., & Eldridge, S. E. (2022). In vivo potency assay for the screening of bioactive molecules on cartilage formation. Lab Animal 2022 51:4, 51(4), 103–120
• Thomas BL*, Eldridge SE* (shared first authorship with Thomas), Nosrati B, Alvarez M, Thorup AS, Nalesso G, Caxaria S, Barawi A, Nicholson JG, Perretti M, Gaston-Massuet C, Pitzalis C, Maloney A, Moore A, Jupp R and Dell’Accio F, (2021) WNT3A‐loaded exosomes enable cartilage repair. J Extracell Vesicles 10:e12088
• Nalesso G, Thorup A-S, Eldridge SE, di Palma A, Kaur A, Peddireddi K, Blighe K, Rana S, Stott B, Vincent T, Balu S, Thomas BL, Bertrand J, Sherwood JC, Fioravanti A, Achan P, Pitzalis C and Dell’Accio F, (2021), Calcium calmodulin kinase II activity is required for cartilage homeostasis in osteoarthritis. Sci Rep 11, 5682
• Eldridge SE, Barawi A, Wang H, Roelofs AJ, Kaneva M, Guan Z, Lydon H, Thomas BL, Thorup A-S, Fernandez BF, Caxaria S, Strachan D, Ali A, Shanmuganathan K, Pitzalis C, Whiteford JR, Henson F, McCaskie AW, De Bari C and Dell’Accio F, (2020), Agrin induces long-term osteochondral regeneration by supporting repair morphogenesis, Sci. Transl. Med. 12, eaax9086
• Thorup AS, Strachan D, Caxaria S, Poulet B, Thomas BL, Eldridge SE, Nalesso G, Pitzalis C, Aigner T, Corder R, Bertrand J and Dell’Accio F (2020) ROR2 blockade improves the functional and structural outcomes of osteoarthritis in preclinical animal models by inhibiting YAP signalling. Sci. Transl. Med. 12, aax3063
• Thorup A-S, Dell’Accio F and Eldridge SE, (2020),  Lessons from joint development for cartilage repair in the clinic. Developmental Dynamics, dvdy.228. doi:10.1002/dvdy.228
• Eldridge S*., Pengas, I*., Assiotis, A., McNicholas, M., Mendes, J. E. and Laver, L. (2018). MMP-3 in the peripheral serum as a biomarker of knee osteoarthritis, 40 years after open total knee meniscectomy. Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics, 5(1), 21. doi:10.1186/s40634-018-0132-x
• Nalesso, G., Thomas, B. L., Sherwood, J. C., Yu, J., Addimanda, O., Eldridge, S. E., Thorup, A.-S., Dale, L., Schett, G., Zwerina, J., Eltawil, N., Pitzalis, C. and Dell’Accio, F. (2017). WNT16 antagonises excessive canonical WNT activation and protects cartilage in osteoarthritis. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, annrheumdis-2015-208577.
• Eldridge, S., Nalesso, G., Ismail, H., Vicente-Greco, K., Kabouridis, P., Ramachandran, M., Niemeier, A., Herz, J., Pitzalis, C., Perretti, M. and Dell’Accio, F. (2016). Agrin mediates chondrocyte homeostasis and requires both LRP4 and α-dystroglycan to enhance cartilage formation in vitro and in vivo. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 75(6), 1228–35.
• Sherwood, J. C., Bertrand, J., Eldridge, S. E. and Dell’Accio, F. (2014). Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cartilage damage and repair. Drug Discovery Today, 19(8), 1172–7.

News

October 2020
Doubling down on osteoarthritis (Nature)

September 2020
New molecule repairs cartilage and relieves symptoms of osteoarthritis (Queen Mary University of London)

September 2020
BBC Radio 5 Live interview (14:38) 

September 2020 
Agrin induces long-term osteochondral regeneration by supporting repair morphogenesis (Science Translational Medicine) 

September 2020
ROR2 blockade as a therapy for osteoarthritis (Science Translational Medicine)  

August 2017
Preventing the pain of osteoarthritis - do molecules and proteins hold the answers? (Centre for Sport, Exercise & Osteoarthritis Research / Versus Arthritis)