Over 100 million people worldwide suffer from painful osteoarthritis, which is one of the most common causes of disability. Current treatments for the incurable condition largely focus on pain management and the eventual replacement of the affected knee or hip joint. Our goal at REMEDI is to develop novel cell based therapies using adult bone marrow stem cells to promote the regrowth of healthy cartilage and repair damaged joints. Stem cells are known to possess properties which allow them to be programmed to create healthy new tissue to repair damage caused by injury or disease. These therapies will have the potential to alleviate or delay the need for joint replacement and lower the need for long-term pain management. This is the focus of the CARA (Cellular arthoplasty regeneration in arthritis) project which is being run jointly with the international company, Smith & Nephew.