Many thanks for helping to support Joint Action. The research work they do is crucial to our desire as doctors and surgeons involved in treating patients with damaged joints. The population is ageing and in our desire to keep fit and active we are stressing our joints much later on in life than in the past. New technologies such as cartilage transplantation aim to enable people to keep their own joints for longer but most people succumb to joint replacement at some point. These must be made functionally better and longer-lasting in order to cope with all the abuse we want to give them to remain active.