• Project Dates: From June 2012 to May 2017
• Project Leader: Principal: Professor TE Cawston Institute of Cellular Medicine, Collaborators: Professor TBL Kirkwood, Professor J Loughlin, Professor JC Mathers
• Sponsors: Medical Research Council (MRC)

CIMA: The Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing (www.CIMAUK.org) is a collaboration between centres of excellence at the Universities of Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield that brings together complementary expertise in skeletal muscle, bone, cartilage and tendon biology, ageing research, nutritionand exercise interventions and clinical excellence in musculoskeletal disorders.

CIMA will develop anintegrated approach to understanding the processes and effects of ageing in tissues of the musculoskeletalsystem, how ageing contributes to diseases of the musculoskeletal system and how these processes may be ameliorated or prevented. The three Institutions have developed a strong framework for collaboration and CIMA will provide an outstanding scientific environment that gives researchers access to excellent facilities,cohorts and techniques and will develop a high quality training programme to improve and expand UK and International research capacity in musculoskeletal ageing.

A unique feature of CIMA research will be its focus on the whole musculoskeletal system rather than on individual tissue components. We will integrate basic science programmes to understand how intrinsic mechanisms of ageing lead to decline in musculoskeletal function and contribute to musculoskeletal disorders, identify and share current state-of-the-art in monitoring age-related changes in individual musculoskeletal tissues and provide an integrated assessment ofmusculoskeletal function through use of modelling and systems biology approaches.

We will also develop and test novel approaches to reduce age-related deterioration of the musculoskeletal system through nutrition, exercise and pharmacological interventions.

Principal: Professor TE Cawston  Institute of Cellular Medicine, University of Newcastle   tim.cawston@ncl.ac.uk   Collaborators: Professor TBL Kirkwood  Institute for Ageing & Health , University of Newcastle   tom.kirkwood@ncl.ac.uk  

Professor J Loughlin  Institute of Cellular Medicine, University of Newcastle  , john.loughlin@ncl.ac.uk 

Professor JC Mathers  Institute for Ageing & Health, University of Newcastle, john.mathers@ncl.ac.uk