Scientist wins Korenchevsky Prize for research into world’s most common joint disease

Kyriazi presented her findings at the British Society for Research on Ageing (BSRA) annual scientific meeting where she discussed her work in musculoskeletal diseases and osteoarthritis.

“I am trying to understand the role of ageing in the development and progression of the disease,” she explained. “And for that, I’m focusing on two age-related mechanisms. One is autophagy, the cellular recycling pathway, and the other one is cellular senescence, the process by which cells “age” in response to damage.”

The Korenchevsky Prize is awarded to the best early career talk given at the annual scientific meeting, combined with the quality of research.

“I still haven’t fully processed the fact that I’ve won this prize,” Kyriazi said.

“We had researchers and principal investigators presenting at the conference whose work I’ve been reading and admiring for years, so listening to your name being announced in front of all these people and your work being recognised, especially at this stage of my career, is incredibly motivating but also very, very humbling.”

Born and raised in Greece’s capital Athens, Kyriazi is working to understand how ageing mechanisms autophagy and cellular senescence change with age and the role they play in people developing osteoarthritis, which is the most common joint disease globally.

She hopes her findings will help older people live healthier for longer with new potential therapeutics against the disease, which one in three adults over the age of 65 develop.

“I’m really interested in ageing in general because it affects everyone,” she said.

“We know that all these diseases accumulate with age and we know that for many chronic diseases, ageing is the greatest risk factor.”

Winning the award means Kyriazi will receive funding to present her findings at the American Aging Association Conference, held in Virginia Beach next year.

It is back-to-back Korenchevsky Prize wins for Oriel students. Kyriazi’s success follows Dr Loren Kell’s award win last year for her research into research into ageing immune systems.

Kyriazi was quick to recognise the College for its support throughout her studies, thanking alumnus Jim Mellon for supporting the Mellon Longevity Graduate Scholarship for scholars working on ageing research.

“I’m really excited with the progress we are seeing in the field today and grateful to be part of it,” she reflected.

“There is still a lot more work that needs to be done but we are at a very exciting stage right now. We are really fortunate to be working in ageing research at a time when the field is advancing so rapidly, especially as early career researchers.”