Traumatic injury is a major cause of joint damage, particularly in the young, and the cartilage in these damaged joints has a very limited capacity for self-repair. Additionally, at present, there is no way of treating superficial joint damage arising from injuries or a number of other medical conditions. The only way to improve healing is through surgery although there is no firm evidence that this is of long term benefit, and so alternative approaches are urgently needed. These researchers will study how cartilage cells survive and maintain their surrounding environment, in order to develop mechanisms to encourage them to self-repair.