Healthy Joints

Convergence Health & Technology Flagship

We aim to promote Healthy Joints by preventing osteoarthritis where possible or identifying the disease early and precisely to allow early-personalized treatment.

Goals & Ambitions

Healthy joints are essential for physical functioning throughout life. Osteoarthritis has the highest prevalence among joint diseases. It leads to pain and functional disability. In the coming decades, osteoarthritis will become the most common chronic disease in the Netherlands.

There are multiple causes for osteoarthritis – many still hard to pinpoint – that makes it a complex disease. And it makes it hard to effectively develop personalized treatment. Insufficient early diagnostics hinders us from starting treatment at an early disease stage.

The Flagship project ‘Healthy Joints’ aims to prevent, diagnose and treat osteoarthritis earlier and develop personalized management. To achieve this, we must improve our understanding of the several underlying mechanisms and how these can be detected in the individual at the earliest possible stage of the disease. By doing so, we can develop and apply innovative methods at all scales and phases of the disease. Moreover, we will develop and test preventive or early-stage personalized interventions. In our flagship, a truly transdisciplinary approach is followed, involving all relevant disciplines and stakeholders.

Flagship News

Shared facility: the MOBI lab

The MOBI lab (MOtion Biomechanics & Imaging) brings technology from Delft to Rotterdam. In this research lab, we combine biomechanical analyses with dynamic X-rays. This allows us to examine very precisely how joints are stressed and will eventually enable doctors to start the right treatment sooner. The unique location in the middle of the outpatient clinic allows us to innovate, implement and scale up more quickly. As a result, patients benefit earlier from diagnostic methods and treatments.

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Workpackages

WP1 | Management

Workpackage 1 focuses on the management and organisation of the Flagship Healthy Joints.

WP2 | Joint

We use modelling to research healthy joint growth at the joint level.

WP3 | Tissue

We use multiscale modelling pathomechanics to research joint and tissue load in vivo at the tissue level. We quantify the joint load and cartilage stress for different functional tasks in high-risk OA groups and different elderly OA phenotypes.

WP4 | Cell

We research OA development at the cell level. We develop new cell and tissue culture models, using mechanobiological and inflammation cell models, to increase our insight into the molecular mechanisms of OA and develop interventions.

WP5 | Machine learning

Using machine learning we aim to identify early-stage OA phenotypes and features. We develop multimodal machine learning methods to analyse data from OA studies and derive reliable, personalised predictions of OA risk.

WP6 | Imaging

Using new imaging techniques we aim to assess the early OA processes. We develop and validate novel quantitative imaging biomarkers for early OA detection, subtyping, monitoring, and outcome prediction.

WP7 | Behaviour

We research behavioural attitude characterisation and the role of attributes in stakeholders’ choices and preferences. By analysing behavioural change and health preferences, we aim to personalise osteoarthritis treatment to make it more effective for every patient.

WP8 | Clinical interventions

We focus on early detection and interventions in clinical populations. Early detection and treatment of OA are of the utmost importance, as a ‘window of opportunity’ may exist to limit the disease’s chronic consequences.

Meet our team!

Get in touch!

Interested in collaboration? Please contact us.