RESEARCH
Our lab
Our friendly, inclusive and collaborative lab work to model all aspects of zebrafish musculoskeletal biology. We are an interdisciplinary bunch and work with clinicians, engineers, physicists, paleontologists, chemists and biochemists.
We have current projects on:
Circadian rhythm in skeletal injury responses
Senescence in ageing cartilage and bone
The evolution of jaw shape
Sex dimorphism in the zebrafish skeleton
The role of neutrophils in fracture repair
Joint mechanics
Fish swim behaviour as a way of tracking skeletal severity
Genetics of joint disease and skeletal displasia
The role of autophagy in skeletal disease progression
Our lab in the news
October 22, 2018
The Bristol Bone Biologists used a Large Diameter Centrifuge (LDC), which ran for 48 hours, to see whether zebrafish develop normally in altered gravitational fields. The zebrafish larvae have returned to Bristol's Hammond Lab in the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience and the students will now study their joints and immune cells.
August 27, 2018
Dr Chrissy Hammond was awarded a grant from UK Space agency: 'The affect of microgravity on the spine, an experiment from the ISS'. The amount awarded is £1.3 million for 2.5 years in partnership with Prof Kate Robson-Brown from the Faculty of Arts and Richard Trask and Andrew Caldwell from Science and Technology Facilities Council.
May 9, 2018
Dr Chrissy Hammond has won over £900k from Arthritis Research UK to fund a 5-year study on the function of early genetic changes in osteoarthritis using zebrafish as a model system.
March 22, 2018
A team of student biologists [the Bristol Bone Biologists] have been selected to take part in the European Space Agency (ESA) Education Office Spin Your Thesis! 2018 programme, which will take place in the Netherlands this September.
October 26, 2017
Three academics from the University of Bristol will explore Mars and the microgravity environment, thanks to funding from the UK Space Agency in the latest round of the Aurora Science Programme and the Human Spaceflight and Microgravity programme.