Raymond Purves Bone & Joint Research Laboratory

The Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Laboratory leads Australia in research into some of the key musculoskeletal diseases affecting our population. This includes osteoarthritis, tendon injury and intervertebral disc degeneration.

There is currently no cure for these common, chronic disabling conditions and long-term management options are limited. It is only through a better understanding of the disease and tissue breakdown, that we will be able to develop therapies to modify the conditions.

The Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Laboratory team is well placed to improve the health of patients with musculoskeletal disease. We are located alongside Royal North Shore Hospital and have developed close relationships with orthopaedic surgeons and rheumatologists at the hospital. This means our latest research developments can be efficiently incorporated into future clinical care.


Professor Christopher Little Professor Christopher Little

Director Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Labs
Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Northern Clinical School
Kolling Institute
Institute of Bone & Joint Research
Member of the Charles Perkins Centre

 Dr Jiao Jiao Li

Honorary Associate

 Dr Cindy Shu

Postdoctoral Scientist

 A/Professor Sanaa Zaki

Postdoctoral Scientist

Dr James Melrose

Honorary Senior Research Fellow

Dr Margaret Smith

Honorary Research Fellow


Daniel Burkhardt - Research Officer

Susan Smith - Technical Officer

Jiarong (Devina) Li – PhD Student

Lu (Anais) Liu - Research Assistant

Raymond Andriono - Honours Student 

Lucas Clarius - Visiting Research Student

Harrison Johansen - Honours Student

Kate Hoare - Honours Student

Sidharth Aravind - PhD Student

Cameron Fleming - Honours Student

Ye (Janey) Zhang - Visiting Researcher

Developing regenerative therapies for osteoarthritis – To investigate the interactions between stem cells and diseased joint cells, and build on this knowledge to develop new ways of treating osteoarthritis

Developing new implants for musculoskeletal tissue repair – To develop and test tissue engineered methods of repairing musculoskeletal tissues including bones and joints

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