Click below to read about some examples of what arc fund at the moment

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At Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the linked University College London’s Institute of Child Health, in London, we are funding several important programmes of research into three different musculoskeletal conditions affecting children; childhood arthritis; vasculitis, a condition that causes severe inflammation and damage to blood vessels and can also lead to organ failure; and juvenile dermatomyositis, a disease that causes a skin rash and weak muscles in children.

Dr Lucy Wedderburn is investigating why some children have mild arthritis while in others the condition damages joints and may cause deformities and stunted growth. By the end of the project she hopes to be able to predict which children will develop severe disease, and to make sure they receive tailor-made drugs and treatment to prevent their joints becoming damaged, early in the disease.
   

Internationally renowned expert in childhood arthritis Professor Pat Woo and her team are investigating the genes associated with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) and how they influence the immune system of patients, using a wide variety of techniques. In addition, genes that make patients susceptible to developing sJIA and genes associated with specific symptoms will be studied, with a view to finding out how they contribute to the illness. These studies should provide new insights into this very complicated disease, and contribute towards the development of new treatments. She also also aims to develop genetic tests to enable us to further categorise the disease in each patient and predict the outcome and response to treatments for each individual.
   

Dr Kiran Nistala is examining the role of a previously unknown type of white blood cells, called Th17, which may play a significant role in damaging the joints of children with childhood arthritis. His initial results show that these cells are indeed present in the joints of patients with JIA and he now hopes to establish if high numbers of Th17 are associated with more severe arthritis. The presence of these cells in the joint may explain why some patients don’t respond to anti-TNF therapy.

Dr Nistala hopes to understand how the body naturally switches off these abnormal cells and to see if this could be used to produce future treatments in arthritis. His research is vital to the design of new drugs to inhibit Th17 cells which could prevent the pain and suffering of youngsters with arthritis.
   
Dr Paul Brogan is concentrating his research efforts on vasculitis, and hopes to develop new diagnostic tests to diagnose the condition more quickly. Despite treatment, vasculitis can cause organ damage, and even failure, and lead to other health problems when children grow up. His work will also mean that in the longer term that medics will be able to treat blood vessel damage more effectively.
   
Surgeon Dr Andreas Roposch is carrying out research he hopes will lead to better treatment and quality of life for children with avascular necrosis, a sometimes serious condition of the upper part of the thigh bone which is caused by a loss of blood supply to the head of the femur, which often requires surgery.