The Creation of the Canadian Connective Tissue Conference (CCTC): Twenty Years on.

Abstract

Background When I arrived in Canada in 1977 to establish and direct the Joint Diseases Laboratory at the Shriners Hospital, McGill University, I came from a strong background in connective tissue research in Britain. Originally, in the 1960s, we had national Collagen,Mucopolysaccharide and the Bone and Tooth interest groups that each met regularly and separately. Eventually, the first two groups merged to form the British Society for Matrix Biology. This was and continues to be a very important society as it provides a common meeting ground for students and scientists interested in connective tissue research where progress is shared and collaborations are forged and new training and job opportunities explored. But on arrival in Canada there was very little research in this fundamentally important area. Tony Melchers MRC group in periodontal physiology, that included Jaro Sodek, based in Toronto, was the only group of its kind at that time. There were researchers working on small soft tissue proteoglycans, in Edmonton, Alberta, namely Paul Scott and Carl Pearson; C.P Leblond and his colleagues at McGill who had contributed so much to our understanding of connective tissues and developmental biology, their work inspiring us all. Michel van der Rest was working on collagen in the adjacent Genetics Laboratory at the Shriners Hospital. Dick Cruess, chair of orthopaedics at McGill and Chief Surgeon at Shriners Hospital, who had invited me to start a group at the Shriners Hospital, and his colleague Nelson Mitchell, both based at the Royal Victoria Hospital, were involved in research on joint tissues. They were excellent early role models for the surgeon/ scientist. A number of arthritis researchers were scattered across Canada, mainly with interests in inflammatory arthritis. Connective tissues were never mentioned. Following my arrival, my contacts were mainly with Tony Melcher’s group and laboratories in the USA where there already existed a very strong community of outstanding connective tissue researchers, especially those working on cartilage. These included Larry Rosenberg in NewYork, who gave up orthopaedics to pursue his passion-research on proteoglycans, and Vince Hascall at NIH (proteoglycans) and David Howell and Fred Woessner in Miami (proteases and proteoglycans). Meanwhile Peter Roughley (proteoglycans), John Mort and Anneliese Recklies (proteases) and Elaine Golds (inflammation/cytokines) had joined me in Montreal. Interest in connective tissues had grown progressively in Toronto, with Ken Pritzker working on osteoarthritis, the arrival of Marc Grynpas (bone) from Boston and Rita Kandel (cartilage). Meanwhile, in the early 1980s, Cy Frank, a young orthopaedic surgeon, also with a passion for research, had established a research program in Calgary that would involve orthopaedics, rheumatology, cartilage, tendon, ligament, proteases and bioengineering. By the beginning of the 1990s, Canada had many connective researchers. But they rarely met. Our main meetings were south of the border, such as the Orthopaedic Research Society, or in Europe. There were no opportunities for Canadian scientists and young researchers to meet on a regular basis, and for trainees to seek guidance and explore further training and job opportunities in Canada. I knew of many young researchers moving to the states, often never to return, often because of the lack of a Canadian meeting place.