Dr Nina Petrova from King’s College 
Hospital, London, has been awarded the DRWF 2009 Clinical Fellowship.
The amount of the fellowship totals £168,827.00 over a period of three years.
The title of her work is ‘An investigation into the mechanisms of pathological bone resorption in acute Charcot osteoarthropathy’.
People with diabetes can develop a ‘Charcot foot’, in which there is severe bone destruction, caused by cells called osteoclasts.
Dr Petrova will investigate why osteoclasts from patients with Charcot foot destroy bone excessively. Firstly, osteoclasts may be stimulated by proteins called cytokines. She will test this in bone culture by adding substances which block the action of these cytokines.
Secondly, she will test whether osteoclasts may have become very sensitive to these cytokines by increasing the way they link up to them through proteins called receptors.
Overall,it is believed that this study should reveal why these osteoclasts are overactive.
Congratulations go to Dr Petrova and her team at King’s College.