Dr. Linda Troeberg, Senior lecturer at Norwich Medical School based at the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom was an invited speaker at the School of Biotechnology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri campus, on August 6, 2019. She is an Editorial Board Member of Journal of Biological Chemistry and a Committee Member at the British Society of Matrix Biology. Dr. Troeberg presented the students and the faculty members with a very insightful talk on ‘New Approaches for Harnessing Metalloproteinase Inhibitors for Osteoarthritis (OA) Treatment’.

Dr. Troeberg’s lab at East Anglia is focused on understanding the molecular pathogenesis of chronic degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis, with the goal of developing novel therapies to treat these conditions. Their current project is focused on defining ‘How Heparan Sulfate Sulfation Patterns Change in OA, and on Designing Small Molecule Inhibitors to Target TIMP-3 Loss as a Therapy for Osteoarthritis’.

During the course of her talk, Dr. Troeberg briefly explained the causes of OA and the major therapeutic targets of the disease. She then moved on to elaborate on the key aspects of her research. Osteoarthritis is characterised by the increased activity of metalloproteases that degrade the major matrix components present in the cartilage such as collagen and aggrecans. This increase in metalloprotease activity is accompanied by the reduction in the activity of their endogenous inhibitor, Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases- 3 (TIMP-3). Their group also established the interaction between heparan sulfate glycans and LDL Receptor Related Protein 1 (LRP).

Dr. Troeberg also interacted with students and faculty members and answered their curious questions with immense enthusiasm. In short, Dr. Linda Troeberg introduced the audience to Osteoarthritis and the burning questions that are still left unanswered regarding this chronic degenerative disease affecting a large population globally.