Dr Julia Kuliwaba
Senior Research Funding Officer (Pre-Award)
Research Services
Division of Research and Innovation
Dr Julia Kuliwaba is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Bone and Joint Research Group in the Centre for Orthopaedic and Trauma Research, Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide. Dr Kuliwaba has over 20 years research experience in the musculoskeletal field, with her research focus on understanding the pathobiology of Osteoarthritis, Osteoporosis, and other musculoskeletal conditions. She is actively involved with supervision of PhD and Honours research students and undergraduate teaching and research project supervision in the Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide.
Bone and Joint Research Group, Centre for Orthopaedic and Trauma Research
The Bone and Joint Research Group focus on understanding the pathobiology of Osteoarthritis, Osteoporosis, and other musculoskeletal conditions. The laboratory is internationally recognised for human tissue-level analyses, utilising a well-established human musculoskeletal tissue bank. The research involves a multidisciplinary approach utilising numerous tissue-level techniques: ranging from molecular to microstructural to clinical imaging.
Lead researcher: Dr Julia Kuliwaba
Email: julia.kuliwaba@adelaide.edu.au
Research Project 1
Title: TGF-beta as a critical factor in human osteoarthritis
Project description: The aetiology of the painful degenerative joint disease osteoarthritis (OA) has so far been elusive, blocking the development of disease modifying treatments. Exciting recent research in mice has found that TGF-beta over-expression in the subchondral bone (beneath the cartilage) has a critical causal role in OA pathogenesis. The OA bone changes seen in mice closely resemble what we find in human OA bone in zones that display the most severe changes, which correspond to ‘bone marrow lesions’ identified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This research project area will investigate the link between TGF-beta expression with structural, chemical compositional, cellular and molecular changes in human subchondral bone marrow lesions. The research involves the analysis of human knee and/or hip OA tissue specimens. This project will investigate TGF-beta as a candidate driver of human OA, which is an essential precursor to testing pharmacologic alteration of TGF-beta activity as a therapeutic strategy.
Projects available for: Third Year / Honours / HDR / Masters
Location: Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences building (AHMS)
Research project start: Semester 1 and 2
Research Project 2
Title: Clinical imaging and tissue-level phenotyping of human hip osteoarthritis
Project description: In Australia, 1 in 4 individuals is at risk of developing symptomatic hip osteoarthritis (OA) in their lifetime. People with hip OA have significant pain and disability, which affects their quality of life. Clinical diagnosis of hip OA involves symptomatic and imaging findings; imaging characteristics include joint space narrowing, presence of osteophytes, subchondral bone cysts and bone marrow lesions (BMLs). A more painful and progressive subtype of hip OA is thought to be related to the formation of subchondral bone cysts, which may develop from BMLs that are often seen in pre-OA populations. The future development of preventive therapy and therapeutic approaches for OA depends on early prediction, detection and prognosis. Thus, it is essential to understand the relationship between subchondral bone cysts and BMLs in hip OA. This project will investigate the frequency and location of subchondral bone cysts and BMLs in hip OA patients using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The presence of these MRI features will be associated with OA progression, evaluated by cartilage volume loss, radiographic KL score and histopathological OARSI cartilage grade. Bone tissue changes will also be assessed in relation to cysts and BMLs by analysis of bone microarchitecture, bone remodelling and microdamage accumulation.
Projects available for: Third Year / Honours / HDR / Masters
Location: Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences building (AHMS)
Research project start: Semester 1 and 2
Research Project 3
Title: Compositional mapping of the cartilage-bone unit in human knee osteoarthritis: insight into disease pathobiology
Project description: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common painful degenerative disease of the joints, which constitutes a major and growing health problem for the ageing Australian population, and for which there are no effective therapies. Our recent research in human OA has shown the involvement of the bone under the cartilage, i.e. subchondral bone, in the development of OA. There is limited quantitative understanding of the tissue matrix composition of the cartilage-bone unit in human OA. This project will utilise Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopic imaging to map region-specific changes in bone and cartilage matrix composition, eg. collagen organisation, proteoglycan and mineral distribution, for human tissue specimens. This project will use an available cohort of OA and non-OA tibial plateau specimens that has been characterised by MRI-imaging for the presence/absence of bone marrow lesions (BMLs) in the subchondral bone. BMLs are of clinical importance as they are associated with pain, predict disease progression, and may be useful as outcome measures for intervention strategies. This project will deliver new knowledge of the cartilage-bone matrix composition for human knee OA patients with and without subchondral BMLs and provide insight into the pathobiology of OA disease progression.
Projects available for: Third Year / Honours / HDR / Masters
Location: Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences building (AHMS)
Research project start: Semester 1 and 2
-
Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2015 - ongoing Research Fellow The University of Adelaide -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title The University of Adelaide Australia PhD (High Commendation) The University of Adelaide Australia BSc (Hons) The University of Adelaide Australia BSc -
Research Interests
-
Journals
-
Conference Papers
Year Citation 2019 Kuliwaba, J. S., Lee, Y. -R., Muratovic, D., Gill, T. K., & Findlay, D. M. (2019). BIOCHEMICAL PROFILING OF BONE MARROW LESIONS IN KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS PATIENTS: ALTERED MINERALIZATION OF THE SUBCHONDRAL BONE MATRIX. In OSTEOARTHRITIS AND CARTILAGE Vol. 27 (pp. S111). Toronto, CANADA: ELSEVIER SCI LTD.
DOI WoS12018 Kuliwaba, J., Mulaibrahimovic, A., Freeman, B., Kantar, K., Brown, P., & Osti, O. (2018). CHARACTERISATION OF BONE MARROW PATHOLOGIES ACROSS THE SPECTRUM OF MODIC CHANGES IN THE HUMAN LUMBAR SPINE. In INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL Vol. 48 (pp. 6-7). WILEY. 2018 Kuliwaba, J., Lee, Y. -R., Muratovic, D., & Findlay, D. (2018). RAMAN SPECTRAL IMAGING OF BONE MARROW LESIONS IN KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS: ALTERED BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE SUBCHONDRAL BONE MATRIX. In INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL Vol. 48 (pp. 8). WILEY. 2018 Kuliwaba, J., Lee, Y. -R., Muratovic, D., & Findlay, D. (2018). Biochemical Profiling of MRI-detected Bone Marrow Lesions in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients: Altered Mineralization of the Subchondral Bone Matrix. In JOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH Vol. 33 (pp. 247). Montreal, CANADA: WILEY. 2015 Muratovic, D., Cicuttini, F. M., Wluka, A., Wang, Y., Findlay, D., Otto, S., . . . Kuliwaba, J. (2015). BONE MARROW LESIONS DETECTED BY TWO MRI SEQUENCES ASSOCIATE WITH SEVERITY OF KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS. In INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL Vol. 45 (pp. 6). WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2015 Muratovic, D., Cicuttini, F. M., Wluka, A., Wang, Y., Findlay, D. M., Otto, S., . . . Kuliwaba, J. S. (2015). BONE MARROW LESIONS DETECTED BY DIFFERENT MAGNETIC RESONANCE SEQUENCES AS POTENTIAL BIOMARKERS FOR KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS: COMPREHENSIVE TISSUE LEVEL ANALYSIS. In OSTEOARTHRITIS AND CARTILAGE Vol. 23 (pp. A303-A305). Seattle, WA: ELSEVIER SCI LTD.
DOI WoS12014 Kuliwaba, J., Lee, Y., Naas, S., Muratovic, D., Humphries, J., & Findlay, D. (2014). THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF SUBCHONDRAL BONE IN POSTMENOPAUSAL KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS: MICRODAMAGE ACCUMULATION, OSTEOCYTE CELL DEFICIENCY AND BONE MARROW HYPERVASCULARITY. In INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL Vol. 44 (pp. 1). WILEY-BLACKWELL.
DOI2011 Mohan, G., Perilli, E., Kuliwaba, J., Humphries, J., Parkinson, I., & Fazzalari, N. (2011). ALENDRONATE TREATMENT REDUCES TIBIAL SUBCHONDRAL BONE DAMAGE IN EARLY-STAGE OSTEOARTHRITIS: AN IN VIVO MICROCT STUDY IN A RODENT MODEL. In OSTEOPOROSIS INTERNATIONAL Vol. 22 (pp. S579). Gold Coast, AUSTRALIA: SPRINGER LONDON LTD. 2010 Kuliwaba, V., Truong, L., Codrington, J., & Fazzalari, N. (2010). Integrity of the osteocyte bone cell network in osteoporotic fracture: implications for mechanical load adaptation. In Proceedings of the 6th Australasian Congress on Applied Mechanics Vol. 10 (pp. 1-7). www: IOP Publishing.
DOI2009 Kuliwaba, J. S., Tsangari, H., Davies, R., & Fazzalari, N. L. (2009). Bone microdamage accumulates in the central region of the human lumbar vertebra. In BONE Vol. 44 (pp. S151). Sydney, AUSTRALIA: ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC.
DOI WoS12009 Codrington, J., Kuliwaba, J., Zarrinkalam, K., & Fazzalari, N. (2009). A study of cortical bone microdamage and crack morphology utilising confocal microscopy and sequential labelling. In Proceedings of the International Conference on CRACK PATHS (CP2009) (pp. 679-686). Italy: ESIS. 2007 Sutton-Smith, P., Fazzalari, N., Kuliwaba, J., Beard, H., & Ma, B. (2007). Back-scattered electron imaging of bone mineralization in osteoarthritis. In JOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH Vol. 22 (pp. S258-S259). Honolulu, HI: AMER SOC BONE & MINERAL RES. 2007 Kidd, L. J., Stephens, A., Kuliwaba, J. S., Fazzalari, N. L., & Forwood, M. R. (2007). Temporal pattern of gene expression and histology of stress fracture healing in the rat ulna-loading model. In JOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH Vol. 22 (pp. S69). Honolulu, HI: AMER SOC BONE & MINERAL RES. 2007 Raggatt, L. J., Chang, M. K., Alexander, K. A., Kuliwaba, J. S., Fazzalari, N. L., Hume, D. A., & Pettit, A. R. (2007). Osteal macrophages: Novel regulators of bone formation. In JOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH Vol. 22 (pp. S53). Honolulu, HI: AMER SOC BONE & MINERAL RES. 2007 Fazzalari, N. L., Ma, B., Sutton-Smith, P., Kuliwaba, J. S., Phipps, R., Parkinson, I. H., & Badiei, A. (2007). Calcium density of bone correlates with trabecular bone architecture. In JOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH Vol. 22 (pp. S226). Honolulu, HI: AMER SOC BONE & MINERAL RES. 2005 Kuliwaba, J. S., Cowan, J. P., Pan, N., & Fazzalari, N. L. (2005). Reduced osteocyte density at the iliac crest in fragility hip fracture patients. In BONE Vol. 36 (pp. S381). Geneva, SWITZERLAND: ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2003 Dassios, H., Findlay, D. M., Kuliwaba, J. S., Atkins, G. J., & Fazzalari, N. L. (2003). Enhanced gene expression of osteoclastogenic factors in human osteoporotic trabecular bone. In BONE Vol. 32 (pp. S149). OSAKA, JAPAN: ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2001 Atkins, G., Kuliwaba, J., Findlay, D., Forwood, M., & Fazzalari, N. (2001). Differential Gene Expression in the Human Bone Microenvironment of the Hip; Comparison Between Control and Osteoarthritis.. In Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Br.) Vol. 84-B (pp. 235). Adelaide, South Australia: The British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery. -
Conference Items
Year Citation 2021 Muratovic, D., Findlay, D. M., Masri, H. H., Stapledon, C. J., Lee, Y., Cao, X., . . . Kuliwaba, J. S. (2021). ELEVATED LEVELS OF ACTIVE TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR beta 1 IN THE SUBCHONDRAL BONE RELATE SPATIALLY TO IMPAIRED BONE QUALITY AND CARTILAGE LOSS IN HUMAN KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS. Poster session presented at the meeting of OSTEOARTHRITIS AND CARTILAGE. ELSEVIER SCI LTD.
DOI2021 Lee, Y. R. O., Briggs, M., Kuliwaba, J., Hoffmann, P., Muratovic, D., & Anderson, P. (2021). MASS SPECTROMETRY TISSUE IMAGING IDENTIFIES COMPLEX/HYBRID-TYPE N-GLYCANS AS PUTATIVE NOVEL CARTILAGE DEGRADATION MARKERS FOR HUMAN KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS. Poster session presented at the meeting of INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL. WILEY. 2021 Muratovic, D., Findlay, D., Lee, R. Y., Quarrington, R., & Kuliwaba, J. (2021). ELEVATED LEVELS OF ACTIVE TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR B1 IN THE SUBCHONDRAL BONE RELATE SPATIALLY TO THE SEVERITY OF HUMAN KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS. Poster session presented at the meeting of INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL. WILEY. 2017 Jones, C. F., Robertson, W. S. P., Callary, S., Mulaibrahimovic, A., Kuliwaba, J., Gunzburg, R., . . . Freeman, B. J. (2017). Radiographic, Mechanical and Histological Evaluation of Fusion in an Ovine Model: Peek Interbody Cages With and Without a Porous Titanium Alloy Coating. Poster session presented at the meeting of XXVI Congress of the International Society of Biomechanics. Brisbane, Australia. 2017 Jones, C. F., Robertson, W. S. P., Callary, S., mulaibrahimovic., Kuliwaba., Gunzburg, R., . . . Freeman. (2017). Radiographic, mechanical and histological evaluation of fusion using PEEK interbody cages with and without a porous titanium alloy coating, in an ovine model. Poster session presented at the meeting of ANZORS-RSA Joint Conference. Adelaide. 2017 Jones, C. F., Robertson, W. S. P., Callary, S., Mulaibrahimovic, A., Kuliwaba, J., Gunzburg, R., . . . Freeman, B. J. C. (2017). Evaluation of fusion with a porous titanium alloy coated peek interbody cage in an ovine model. Poster session presented at the meeting of Spine Society of Australia 28th Annual Scientific Meeting. Hobart. 2015 Freeman, B., Kuliwaba, J., Zarrinkalam, M., Jones, C., Shu, C., Colloca, C., . . . Howell, S. (2015). ALLOGENEIC MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS IMPROVE INDICES OF LUMBAR INTERVERTEBRAL DISC DEGENERATION WITHOUT SITE SPECIFICITY OF INJECTION IN AN OVINE MODEL. Poster session presented at the meeting of OSTEOARTHRITIS AND CARTILAGE. Seattle, WA: ELSEVIER SCI LTD.
DOI WoS12014 Muratovic, D., Cicuttini, F. M., Wluka, A., Wang, Y., Findlay, D., Otto, S., . . . Kuliwaba, J. (2014). BONE MARROW LESIONS IN KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS. Poster session presented at the meeting of INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2014 Kuliwaba, J. S., Lee, Y. -R., Naas, S., Muratovic, D., Humphries, J. M., & Findlay, D. M. (2014). THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF SUBCHONDRAL CANCELLOUS BONE IN POSTMENOPAUSAL KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS: DIFFUSE MICRODAMAGE ACCUMULATION, OSTEOCYTE CELL DEFICIENCY AND BONE MARROW HYPERVASCULARITY. Poster session presented at the meeting of OSTEOARTHRITIS AND CARTILAGE. Paris, FRANCE: ELSEVIER SCI LTD.
DOI2013 Carpentier, V., Tsangari, H., Fazzalari, N., & Kuliwaba, J. (2013). Regional Heterogeneity of Trabecular Bone Microcrack Density in Association with Trabecular Microarchitecture and Bone Resorption in Whole Human Lumbar Vertebrae. Poster session presented at the meeting of JOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH. Baltimore, MD: WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2008 Papadopoulos, A., Truong, L., Kuliwaba, J. S., & Fazzalari, N. L. (2008). Immunohistochemical localisation of sclerostin in human trabecular bone from fragility hip fracture patients. Poster session presented at the meeting of 30th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, as published in Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. Montreal, Canada: Wiley.
DOI
National Health and Medical Research Council, 2018-2020, Project Grant, AUD $634,359, Transforming Growth Factor Beta as a causal factor in human osteoarthritis. CIs: Findlay DM, Cao X, Kuliwaba JS, Gill T, Solomon LB.
Arthritis Australia, 2016-2017, Project Grant, AUD $30,000, Molecular profiling of bone marrow lesions in osteoarthritis. CIs: Kuliwaba JS, Findlay DM, Hoffmann P.
National Health and Medical Research Council, 2013-2016, Project Grant, AUD $451,683, Targeting bone marrow lesions to find interventions in the progression of osteoarthritis. CIs: Findlay DM, Wluka AE, Kuliwaba JS, Taylor DJ.
National Health and Medical Research Council, 2008-2010, Project Grant, AUD $434,498, Vertebral body strength: contribution of bone mass, bone structure and material properties. CIs: Fazzalari NL, Kuliwaba JS, Parkinson IH, Sutton-Smith P.
National Health and Medical Research Council, 2006-2008, Project Grant, AUD $438,125, Intrinsic bone qualities in fragility fracture patients: mass, microarchitecture, mineralization and damage accumulation. CIs: Fazzalari NL, Kuliwaba JS.
National Health and Medical Research Council, 2006-2008, Project Grant, AUD $399,750, Influence of anti-inflammatory treatments on healing of stress fractures. CIs: Forwood MR, Fazzalari NL, Kuliwaba JS.
-
Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2013 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Bone Marrow Lesions in Progression of Knee Osteoarthritis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Dzenita Muratovic 2008 - 2012 Co-Supervisor Mechanisms of Osteoarthritis: Interrelationships between Bone and Cartilage Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Geetha Mohan -
Other Supervision Activities
Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name 2019 - ongoing External Supervisor Discovery of knee osteoarthritis-associated biomarkers in different types of human biospecimens using proteomic-based strategies University of South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Yea Rin (Olivia) Lee
Connect With Me
External Profiles