The doctoral dissertation in the field of Technical Physics, will be examined at the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology, Kuopio campus and online.
What is the topic of your doctoral research? Why is it important to study the topic?
Osteoarthritis is a common musculoskeletal disorder, yet its underlying mechanisms are not fully understood and there is no cure. Experimental studies alone are often insufficient to explore its progression.
My doctoral thesis investigated, how overloading and inflammation affect cartilage cell responses – cell death, oxidative stress, the production of enzymes that promote cartilage degeneration, and subsequent changes in cartilage composition. Model predictions were consistent with previously observed cartilage changes in quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and histological findings of human knee joints and bovine cartilage samples, respectively. The model was also extended to simulate the effects of oxidative stress-reducing drugs after knee injury.
In the future, these models may offer a framework for evaluating tissue responses to pharmaceutical treatments and may support the development of therapies to slow osteoarthritis progression.
What are the key findings or observations of your doctoral research?
The findings of my doctoral thesis suggest that in damaged cartilage, mechanical loading causes more localized and earlier degeneration than inflammation. Inhibiting inflammation may slow degeneration and support partial tissue recovery. The results also suggest that reducing oxidative stress with acute antioxidant treatment after injury could delay cell death and mitigate cartilage degeneration.
These findings offer new insights for osteoarthritis research and may guide future experimental studies. They highlight localized cellular responses and degeneration mechanisms that vary across cartilage regions and time points post-injury. A better understanding of these mechanisms supports drug development and treatment evaluation. Since the findings align with previous experimental data, they also encourage further development of computational models for patient-specific osteoarthritis treatment planning.
How can the results of your doctoral research be utilised in practice?
The results of my doctoral thesis contribute to the advancement of previous computational models and support their development in the direction of assessing the effects of patient-specific treatments. Joint-level models can already estimate patient-specific cartilage loading, and when combined with tissue-level degeneration models incorporating cellular responses, they allow for virtual assessments of various treatment effects. These include the impact of weight loss, physical therapy, or medication on cartilage cells, cartilage composition, and the progression of osteoarthritis.
Such computer models and predictions can facilitate the development of personalized treatments aimed at slowing or preventing osteoarthritis progression. This could significantly reduce the societal costs associated with the disease while improving patients' quality of life.
Mitkä ovat väitöstutkimuksesi keskeiset tutkimusmenetelmät ja -aineistot? / What are the key research methods and materials used in your doctoral research?
The main method in my doctoral thesis was the finite element method, used to simulate cartilage responses to loading, inflammation, and antioxidant treatment. Simulated changes in cartilage composition were compared with quantitative MRI and histological data from previous experiments.
Tissue-level models were developed in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Iowa (UIOWA). Additionally, earlier data from UIOWA were used to calibrate the model of antioxidant treatment effects.
This work is part of larger research projects such as the one funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation (Prof. Rami Korhonen), aiming to better mechanistic understanding of post-traumatic osteoarthritis and patient-specific treatments. The dissertation also aligns with the University of Eastern Finland’s strategic focus areas and is part of the Musculoskeletal Disorders Research Community and the Biophysics Research Group.
The doctoral dissertation of Joonas Kosonen, MSc, entitled Cell-driven in silico modeling of post-traumatic osteoarthritis - Impact of overloading, inflammation, and antioxidant treatment on articular cartilage composition will be examined at the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology, Kuopio campus. The opponent will be Professor Jérôme Noailly, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain, and the custos will be Professor Rami Korhonen, University of Eastern Finland. Language of the public defence is English.
For more information, please contact:
Joonas Kosonen, joonas.kosonen@uef.fi, tel. 050 304 3474
- Public examination
- Dissertation (PDF)
- Photo (coming)
