In December, the BSRG welcomed Mrs Maria Hammer, a PhD candidate from the University of Stuttgart, who spent 6 weeks working with Dr Little on our FE Spine modelling software, VirtuSpine. During this time Mrs Hammer learned how to run our custom-developed FE modelling software in order to extract biomechanical data for the behaviour of the lumbar joints. The results from these analyses will be integrated with the musculoskeletal model of the spine developed by the Human Movement Simulation Laboratory at University of Stuttgart, DEMOA, under the direction of Assoc Prof Syn Schmitt. This forms the next critical step in integrating the modelling approaches from the two groups.