Collection of spine and joint tissues for research into human disease

• Research type

  Research Tissue Bank

• IRAS ID

  367619

• Research summary

  Collection of spine and joint tissues for research into human disease

• REC name

  East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  26/EM/0009

• Date of REC Opinion

  24 Mar 2026

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion

• Data collection arrangements

  The Sherwood Forest Hospitals (SFH) NHS Foundation Trust/University of Nottingham Human Joint Tissue Repository was initiated to enable research into joint problems.

  Its collection of human tissue samples provides a high quality resource for researchers into osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases. Samples and data have been generously provided by people undergoing total joint replacement surgery and by relatives of recently-deceased individuals (all with written informed consent for research use). Recruitment and collection takes place at SFH and sample storage is at the University of Nottingham.

  This large repository is suitable for case matching (eg. by age, sex), plus identification of rare subgroups (eg. people with pain-free knee osteoarthritis). Repository samples are processed by snap freezing, chemical fixation, and are suitable for histology and molecular biology studies.

  Available samples include:
  synovium
  cartilage and bone
  meniscus
  tendon
  muscle
  serum
  dorsal root ganglia
  spinal cord
  serum
  synovial fluid
  

  Available data include:
  demographics
  history and clinical examination
  comorbidities
  medications
  pain
  X-ray assessment scores
  sample processing details

• Research programme

  Several ongoing projects and collaborations with national and international academic and commercial partners are identifying new biomarkers and molecular targets for the treatment of pain, and for osteoarthritis. At the time of writing, we support studies within the University of Nottingham into arthritis pain. We also currently support studies into osteoarthritis inflammatory arthritis with several other universities and commercial partners. We also carry out and publish our own lab-based research into arthritis pain and disease biomarkers.

• Storage license

  12265

• RTBTitle

  Collection of spine and joint tissues for research into human disease

• Establishment organisation

  University of Nottingham

• Establishment organisation address

  Academic Rheumatology

  Clinical Sciences Building, City Hospital Campus

  Nottingham

  NG5 1PB