Scientific Prizes

Four awards for scientists from the Bone and Cartilage Research Unit (UROC)



Jérémie Zappia, Cécile Lambert, Christelle Sanchez and Yves Henrotin, scientists at the Bone and Cartilage Research Unit (UROC) in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Liège, are the winners of four scientific prizes that were awarded to them at the end of 2019. These prizes reward the quality of the research carried out by these scientists in the field of osteoarthritis.

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he year 2019 will have been a good vintage for the researchers of the Bone and Cartilage Research Unit (UROC), headed by Professor Yves Henrotin. Indeed, three researchers have been distinguished by four important scientific prizes. The Bone and Cartilage Research Unit (UROC), a member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Medicines (CIRM), is a unit specialised in research on bone, cartilage and muscle. Researchers are developing biological markers and treatments for osteoarthritis and sarcopenia (weakening of the body due to decreased muscle mass and quality as we age). The Research Unit has more than 250 scientific articles published in national and international journals and has registered 15 patents, which have led to two spin-offs: Artialis SA and Kiomed Pharma

In September 2019, Cécile Lambert received two awards for her work on the pro-inflammatory effect of a collagen peptide type (Coll2-1) on the synovial membrane. On September 15, 2019, she received the Tilman Prize from the Osteoarthritis Foundation  during the gala evening organized in Brussels by the Osteoarthritis Foundation and, on December 9, 2019, the Osteoarthritis Research Prize from Laboratoires Expanscience on the occasion of the 32nd congress of the French Society of Rheumatology in Paris. This is the third time that a UROC researcher has received this prize.

In October 2019, Professor Yves Henrotin was awarded the Certificate of Merit prize by the International Repair Society International (ICRS) at its 15th World Congress in Vancouver. The award recognizes his work with Christelle Sanchez and international colleagues  on syndecan-4, a membrane proteoglycan and potential marker for knee osteoarthritis.

In November 2019, at the Léon Frédéric Foundation's project evening, Jérémie Zappia , a PhD student in the lab, was awarded the Jean Henrotin Award from the Osteoarthritis Foundation for his research on osteomodulin, a small proteoglycan involved in subchondral bone sclerosis during osteoarthritis.

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