Orthopaedic Research Unit: University of Cambridge

An independent group within the Department of Surgery, the Orthopaedic Research Unit was founded in 1979 by the present Director, Neil Rushton. The principal research focus within the ORU is the response of tissues and cells to implanted materials and this research has yielded several important advances in orthopaedics.

Key research areas

• The effect of particulate orthopaedic materials at the bone/implant interface (Dr RA Brooks)
• Drug delivery from hydroxyapatite (Dr DC Ireland)
• Preventing bone resorption using tocotrienol (Dr RA Brooks)
• The evaluation of osteoconductive materials (Dr RA Brooks)
• The `Cambridge' Epiphyseal Hip (Prof N Rushton)

Research collaboration

• The Unit has close links with the MRC Bone Research Group and the Wellcome Bone Research Group on-site, and University departments such as Pathology and Clinical Veterinary Medicine.
• There are extensive collaborations, particularly in the field of tissue engineering, with the Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy.

These links ensure that the Unit is ideally placed for both scientific and clinical research in orthopaedics.

Further information:

• www.orthopaedics.cam.ac.uk