Research

The MRC Medicines Development Fellowship Scheme job advert has gone live which offers a unique opportunity for four Clinician Scientist Fellows (CSFs) to develop into independent cross-boundary research leaders. For more information please see below and the link  Job Specification (corehr.com)

CSO is working closely with Our Future Health on Scottish participation in this UKRI funded initiative to create a UK-wide cohort of 5 million adults for research to develop new ways to prevent, detect and treat diseases (Researcher resources - Our Future Health).  Our Future Health plans to open recruitment centres in Scotland later this year with over 1.25 million people recruited so far in England.  Data are available for research.  Our Future Health is currently offering opportunities to help shape and promote the research resource along with access to the data through an Early Adopter Scheme – please see the attached communication from Kate Feeney, the Scotland Stakeholder Manager of Our Future Health.  Please circulate to those who may be interested in these opportunities.

The remit of NRS-MSH is to support research that deals with interventions that can being applied to the prevention of disease, and treatment of patients with musculoskeletal diseases. A wide range of research studies are included such as those involving medicines, lifestyle interventions, multifaceted (complex) interventions, medical devices and comparison of surgical approaches for the prevention and treatment of bone and joint diseases both in adults and children. You can find out more here.

Research Champion Lead: Prof Duncan Porter duncan.porter@glasgow.ac.uk
Research Champion Support Manager: Carol Williams Carol.A.Williams@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

Rheumatology staff from across Scotland have run several national collaborative research projects including the ORBIT, SERA and SOPHOS studies.

Chair: Prof Duncan Porter duncan.porter@glasgow.ac.uk
Website: www.scarnetwork.org

The Research into Inflammatory Arthritis Centre Versus Arthritis (RACE) is a collaboration between the Universities of Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle and Oxford which is funded and supported by Versus Arthritis. RACE focuses on translational and experimental medicine and clinical trials for research into inflammatory arthritis, to pursue its two main overarching research aims:

• What is the cause of Rheumatoid Arthritis and related types of inflammatory arthritis?
• Why do some patients fail to respond to treatment?

SERA recruited over a thousand patients with a new diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis between 2011 and 2015. A rich dataset of clinical and demographic variables was collected every 6 months for two years, and annually thereafter. The SERA data are linked with datasets held by Public Health Scotland that document community prescribing, cancer, hospital admissions and deaths. In parallel, an extensive biobank has been collected. The study has resulted in many clinical, epidemiological and laboratory studies - you can find out more about SERA here.

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a highly varied condition, ranging from relatively mild disease limited to one area to a severe arthritis affecting most joints. However, it is not currently possible to predict how PsA will develop in an individual, making it difficult to determine optimal treatment in early disease. Early stratification of patients with PsA is becoming particularly important as new therapies become available which preferentially target specific features of the disease. In order to help address this, adult patients in Scotland with a new or recent onset (≤4 years) diagnosis of PsA will be invited to take part in the SOPHOS national cohort. You can find out more about the study here.

The University of Aberdeen hosts two UK-wide registries – the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics registers in axial spondyloarthritis (BSRBR-AS) and psoriatic arthritis (BSR-PsA) which recruit from over 80 centres throughout Great Britain and affords opportunities to examine the effectiveness and safety of such therapies as well as other important clinical issues for patients with these conditions.

Chief Investigators: Prof Gary J Macfarlane/Dr Gareth T Jones epidemiology@abdn.ac.uk  

All patients at present will be recruited from NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and must be referred by a Rheumatology specialist staff member. For further information, please contact Dr James Brock James.brock@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

REALISE

RA patients who are due to commence Adalimumab. A randomised placebo control study (Adalimumab vs Placebo). To explore the use of TNF antagonism on altering sickness behaviour in conjunction with brain connectivity/neurobiological mechanism pathways using 7T MRI, MRA and SPECT brain imaging.

STIMARA

RA patients who are inadequate responders to csDMARDs (SDAI >11) alongside additional patients with low disease activity (SDAI >3.3 <11). Investigation using vagal nerve stimulation and whether this affects the neurobiological pathways likely connected with pain in RA. 

SOAR

An observational study of RA patients who are due to commence Baricitinib. Reviewing the effects Baricitinib has in RA patients on their central pain pathways through brain connectivity pathways and markers using neuroimaging modalities.

Pro-BEPP

RA patients with low disease activity (≥1 swollen joint count, CRP>6 and ESR>20) with additional ACR description of chronic pain. Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation vs placebo and exploring if this elucidates central pain pathways with the use of MRI brain scanning.

The Scottish Systemic Vasculitis Network  (SSVN) is involved in delivering a portfolio of research projects. Further information can be found on their website here.

All research is a team effort! Follow the links to find out more about how you can get involved if you are a patient, doctor in training or Allied Health Professional.