I am an academic orthopaedic trainee with a focus on arthritis and ageing research. I undertook undergraduate training (MBChB - Medicine and Surgery, MSc - Tissue Engineering for Regenerative Medicine) at The University of Manchester.

As a post-graduate I completed the NIHR Academic Foundation Programme (North West) and was appointed as an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Trauma and Orthopaedics in the Northern Deanery in 2016. In 2017 I completed a PGCert in clinical research (Newcastle University) and subsequently have received membership of two surgical colleges (MRCSEng / MRCSEd).

In 2018 I undertook a dual funded (Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh/John George William Patterson) 12 month research fellowship investigating the genetics and epigenetics of osteoarthritis. The pilot data from this fellowship has allowed me to apply for further funding to return to the lab.

I will commence my PhD as a Wellcome Trust 4Ward North/Royal College of Surgeons of England Shears Northern Research fellow in August 2020.

To date I have been awarded funding for my research from:

Wellcome Trust

The Medical Research Council (MRC) Versus Arthritis Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing (CIMA)

Royal College of Surgeons of England

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

The John George William Patterson Foundation

The John Charnley Trust

Wrightington 3 Wishes Foundation

More information is available @ 

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4449-014X

https://twitter.com/tsorial

My research falls under two broad themes:

1) Basic science/translational

In this theme my research focusses on the genetics and epigenetics of disabling musculoskeletal disease, and how our understanding of this can be used to create genome edited, tissue engineered solutions to disease.

My research is collaborative and forms links between Newcastle University, The University of Manchester, Washington University in St Louis (MO, USA) and Universitat Wien (Vienna, AT).

2) Big data, machine learning and outcomes research

In this theme I work closely with the AGE research group (Campus for Ageing and Vitality) and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The overarching aim is to use existing data to develop algorithms to predict (and eventually improve) outcomes from orthopaedic surgery.

Our current focus is using data to predict and model hip fracture outcomes.

I am currently co-supervisor (with Professors Miles Witham/Mike Reed) for two intercalated MRes (MSc) students who are working on theme 2 (hip fracture outcomes).

I am happy to consider mentoring and co-supervising MRes / medical students, please contact me by email (tony.sorial@ncl.ac.uk) if you are interested in orthopaedic research.

• Doherty WJ, Stubbs TA, Chaplin A, Reed MR, Sayer AA, Witham MD, Sorial AK. Prediction of postoperative outcomes after hip fracture surgery: independent validation and recalibration of the Nottingham Hip Fracture Score. Journal of American Medical Directors Association 2020. In Press.
• Sorial AK, Hofer IM, Tselepi M, Cheung K, Parker E, Deehan DJ, Rice SJ, Loughlin J. Multi-tissue epigenetic analysis of the osteoarthritis susceptibility locus mapping to the plectin gene PLEC. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage 2020. In Press.
• Sorial AK, Anjum SA, Cook MJ, Board TN, ONeill TW. Statins, Bone Biology and Revision Arthroplasty: Review of Clinical and Experimental Evidence. Preprints 2020. Submitted.
• Cook M, Sorial AK, Lunt M, Board TN, O'Neill TW. Effect of timing and duration of statin exposure on risk of hip or knee revision arthroplasty: a population-based cohort study. The Journal of Rheumatology 2019, Epub ahead of print.
• Rice SJ, Tselepi M, Sorial AK, Aubourg G, Shepherd C, Almarza D, Skelton AJ, Pangou I, Deehan DJ, Reynard L, Loughlin J. Prioritization of PLEC and GRINA as osteoarthritis risk genes through the identification and characterization of novel methylation quantitative trait loci. Arthritis and Rheumatology 2019, 71(8), 1285-1296.
• Rice SJ, Sorial AK, Aubourg G, Shepherd C, Tselepi M, Almarza D, Skelton AJ, Deehan D, Reynard LN, Loughlin J. Identification of novel methylation quantitative trait loci (mqtls) and functional characterization using CRISPR/CAS9 and gene expression analysis prioritizes PLEC as an OA risk gene. In: 2018 OARSI World Congress on Osteoarthritis Promoting Clinical and Basic Research in Osteoarthritis. 2018, Liverpool: Elsevier.
• Rice SJ, Aubourg G, Sorial AK, Almarza D, Tselepi M, Deehan DJ, Reynard LN, Loughlin J. Identification of a novel, methylation-dependent, RUNX2 regulatory region associated with osteoarthritis risk. Human Molecular Genetics 2018, 27(19), 3464–3474.
• Mohan HM, Fitzgerald E, Gokani V, Sutton P, Harries R, Bethune R, McDermott FD, Sorial A, Collaborators A. Engagement and role of surgical trainees in global surgery: Consensus statement and recommendations from the Association of Surgeons in Training. International Journal of Surgery 2018, 52, 366-370.
• Rice SJ, Aubourg G, Sorial AK, Deehan D, Loughlin J, Reynard LN. Epigenetic and transcriptional effects operate on the SUPT3H and RUNX2 genes residing at the chromosome 6p21.1 osteoarthritis susceptibility locus and correlate with the association signal. In: 2017 OARSI World Congress. 2017, Las Vegas, NV, USA.