Understanding mechanical induced signalling the healthy tendon.

Tendon problems are a common medical complaint, and current understanding highlights that mechanical stimulus (running and walking) triggers adaptations at the cellular level1. Very little is known about these adaptations and the signalling processes behind them which lead to the adaptive response. This cross-disciplinary project focuses on healthy tendon cells (tenocytes) to model the human tendon to allow for the investigation of how they respond to mechanical stimulation. The tissue environment is much more than just the cellular component however, and consideration must be given to how the how cells interact with their surrounding matrix. This project will work from the ground up to develop tissue engineering-based models which incorporate both the cellular and matrix components of the human tendon. This will then be utilised to investigate the biological effect of mechanical triggers in the healthy tendon, in a representative model from which findings can be translated to the human tendon. .