Musculoskeletal tissue regeneration – mechanisms and clinical perspectives
Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen
This course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD Students from NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee.
Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline.
This also applies to PhD students from NorDoc member faculties. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.
Learning objectives
A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:
1. Understand the cellular and molecular basis of musculoskeletal tissue repair throughout the lifespan
2. Appreciate the current clinical challenges relating to failed tissue repair
3. Design a sound scientific study to address these challenges
4. Justify and defend the study design
5. Evaluate the merit of published articles in this field by acquiring an appreciation of the strengths and limitations of the design and analysis methods employed
Content
The basic principles of musculoskeletal tissue regeneration will be covered, with a translational link to clinical challenges. We will focus on skeletal muscle and tendon, and their attachment sites to the skeleton. Course teachers are internationally recognised leading experts in their field, for example:
• Potential and limitations of soft tissue repair and regeneration
• Determinants of stem cell fates and states
• Tendon-bone and tendon-muscle junctions
• Immune cells and inflammation in tissue regeneration
• Dynamics of human soft tissue turnover
• Circadian rhythm in musculoskeletal soft tissues
Participants
PhD students or pre-PhD students working in the field of musculoskeletal tissue regeneration from a basic science or clinical perspective. This course is especially suited for students with backgrounds in for example molecular biomedicine, sports science, biology, veterinary science, and medicine.
Relevance to graduate programmes
The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH:
Basic and Clinical Research in Musculoskeletal Sciences
Veterinary and Animal Health Sciences
Molecular Mechanisms of Disease
Language
English
Form
Lectures, group work, student presentations and group discussions. In addition, students are expected to read specified literature before attending the course.
Course director
Abigail Mackey, Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Bispebjerg Hospital, abigailmac@sund.ku.dk
Teachers
World-leading clinical and basic scientists in the field of muscle and tendon injury and repair. For example:
Arvind von Keudell, Director of Geriatric Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery and Research, Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Harvard Medical School, and Bispebjerg Hospital
Foteini Mourkioti, Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Penn Institute of Regenerative Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Jennifer Paxton, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, University of Edinburgh
Jérôme Feige, Musculoskeletal Department head and Deputy Head Nestle Institute of Health Sciences, Lausanne
Bénédicte Chazaud, Director of research, Institut NeuroMyoGène, University of Lyon
Grith Højfeldt, Postdoc, Institute of Sports Medicine Copenhagen, Bispebjerg Hospital
Chloé Yeung, Senior Researcher, Institute of Sports Medicine Copenhagen, Bispebjerg Hospital
Dates
5-7 October 2026
Course location
Bispebjerg Hospital, Nielsine Nielsens Vej 11, Copenhagen 2400, Denmark
Registration
Please register before 30 June 2026
Expected frequency
Week 41, every second year
Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules.
Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment.
Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.