Dr Gavin Braithwaite is VP of Research at Cambridge Polymer Group in Boston, MA and manages the Research and Development efforts there. He has extensive experience in biomedical materials, with patents and journal articles covering bone cements to hydrogels in topics ranging from orthopaedics to cardiovascular and ocular. Supporting clients at CPG, he has been extensively involved with products and devices in orthopaedics, cardiovascular, pharmaceuticals and other applications. He has significant experience with all stages of the product lifecycle, including development, testing, regulatory and root-cause analysis and was extensively involved in the successful development and sale of a new polyethylene material for hip and knee applications. In his research role, Gavin has been PI over the last 20 years on eight Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grants, two of which have moved to Phase 2, covering topics ranging from bone cements to tissue bulking, nucleus replacement and retinal tamponades (the last three all hydrogel-based). He also acts as a reviewer for the NIH on current SBIR submissions.

Gavin has a B.Sc. in Physics from Edinburgh University, specializing in acoustics and fluids, a Masters in Electronics from Southampton University, specializing in digital radio communication strategies, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College (London), where he worked on adsorbed polymer layers and colloidal stability. For this work, he built and used an AFM to probe the interparticle forces due to adsorbed polymer layers. He performed his postdoctoral work at Harvard University, and then MIT, where he designed a micro-shear rheometer to allow the study of the rheology of confined polymer solutions and melts. He has a 15 issued and pending patents on topics as diverse as an extensional rheometer (now marketed as the CaBER^®) and tools to guide orthopaedic surgeons during surgery or mitigate intraoperative fracturing.

Professor Bull is Professor of Musculoskeletal Mechanics in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. His research is focused on the basic mechanics of joints (including the tissues of joints and the mechanics of joints within the whole musculoskeletal system) and the application of this knowledge and technologies developed to the diagnosis and treatment of pathologies and performance parameters. These are applied to Sport Biomechanics, Injury Biomechanics (focusing on Blast), and the Biomechanics of Ageing including Osteoarthritis. His main areas of expertise in sports biomechanics are in spinal mechanics in rowing and the biomechanics of the upper arm in cricket. As Director of the Musculoskeletal Medical Engineering Centre funded by the Wellcome Trust and EPSRC Professor Bull leads his own research group in musculoskeletal dynamics, and also provides underlying research technology support for nine other investigators funded through the Centre. He has in addition extensive research activity in orthopaedic implant and surgical design in many areas associated with lower limb and upper limb biomechanics and ageing.

Professor Daniele Dini, D.Phil., CEng, FIMechE, MASME and FHEA holds a post as a Professor in Tribology at Imperial College London. Prior to joining Imperial College in 2006, and after receiving an M.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from the Politecnico di Bari (Italy) in 2000, Professor Dini studied for a D.Phil. in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford (2004). Professor Dini is Head of the Imperial College Tribology Group, one of the largest tribology groups in the world (about 60 full time researchers). Professor Dini’s research centres on the application of advanced modelling strategies to applied mechanics, materials, physics, chemistry, biomechanics and structural integrity, with a particular focus on tribology. It consists of three basic elements: (i) development of advanced numerical tools for the solution of tribological and related problems, including molecular dynamics simulations and fluid and solid mechanics solvers (ii) development of multi-scale strategies to couple molecular-, meso- and macro-scale solvers, (iii) application of advanced numerical tools, both at a fundamental level to understand the underlying mechanisms governing tribological behaviour and for practical use in design, troubleshooting and virtual testing. His work is published in major international journals in the fields of tribology, solid mechanics, computational and experimental material science, soft matter physics, physical chemistry and biomechanics. Professor Dini has published over 140 journal papers presented a number of keynotes and invited talks and contributions at conferences on these subjects since 2003.

Andy Williams is an orthopaedic knee surgeon and founder of Fortius Clinic, London. He is a Reader at Imperial College London; and, until December 2015, was Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology, Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford.

Andy qualified from King’s College Hospital, London in 1987 and his orthopaedic training was completed at The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore followed by a year’s Fellowship in Brisbane, Australia where experience with Sports-Related Surgery began. On his return to the UK in 1997, Andy became Senior Lecturer/Honorary Consultant at The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore until the end of December 1999. From January 2000 until end of 2014 worked as a consultant at The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London.

Andy's elective practice is now exclusively knee surgery, approximately 90% of which is soft tissue knee surgery. He undertakes around 100 Anterior Cruciate Ligament reconstructions per year and a multi-ligament reconstruction every two weeks. This latter work represents one of the world’s largest experiences.

Andy is currently the primary knee surgeon for many of the UK’s professional sports teams, including many Premiership teams, especially in football, and rugby. 70% of his patients are professional sportsmen and women, and 50% of all his operative cases are on professional athletes. With a group of colleagues he set up the Fortius Clinic (a new private practice clinic) in central London in 2011.

He was on the executive of The British Association for Surgery of The Knee and sits on the Editorial Board of the Bone and Joint Journal and Joint Surgery. He reviews scientific articles for The Bone and Joint Journal, and The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Mr Tim Spalding is a specialist knee surgeon focussed on knee injuries, meniscal transplantation, articular cartilage repair, ligament reconstruction, osteotomy, and use of novel Ortho-Biologics. He spent the first part of his career with the Royal Navy, becoming consultant in 1995. Specialist training was in Oxford and his knee surgery fellowship was in Toronto. He subsequently joining University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust in 2000. He has pioneered several new techniques and currently has over 90 publications and 12 book chapters. He leads the UK National Ligament Registry for ACL surgery. Internationally he is President of the ACL Study Group, and co-leads the European Allograft Initiative and the ICRS Cartilage Foundation.