Rose is an active research member of HealthUEA, and two of the Norwich Medical School's research centres: Lifespan Health and Metabolic Health. She is a member of the Nutrition and Preventive Medicine group and Norwich Institute for Healthy Ageing.  

Biography

Rose obtained her BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences in 2004 and was awarded the Fahrenheit Placement Prize for Excellence. She spent a year in industry with Pfizer Ltd, and in 2008 was awarded a PhD in Molecular Biology from UEA. Her post-doctoral research spanned 12 years in the BioMedical Research Centre at UEA. In 2020, was seconded for 20 months during the COVID-19 pandemic to develop an award winning clinical molecular diagnostics laboratory in collaboration with the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust to provide extra capacity for Pillar 1 testing.  This collaboration was in partnership with the Quadram Institute for Bioscience, and collborated with the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium.  Rose was also a leading member of The Norwich Testing Initiative working in partnership with The Earlham Institute.

Research Interests

Her research interests centre on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying joint tissue homeostasis and how dietary phytochemicals might interact with these to promote musculoskeletal health and prevent disease. Rose has special interests in Osteoarthritis and Dupuytren’s disease.

Rose collaborates with partners across the Norwich Research Park, local hospitals, and further afield to bring cross disciplinary skills together for a holistic research approach.  Her major research contributions follow a translational path from lab bench to clinical intervention trial.  She has published key papers on the molecular mechanisms of sulforaphane in chondrocytes and cartilage, synergistic activity with other bioactives, identifying sulforaphane in the joint tissues following dietary consumption, and impact on synovial fluid proteome. This led to the BRoccoli In Osteoarthritis (BRIO) Study that looks at pain outcomes in osteoarthritis patients.

Current research interests:

• The impact of dietary sulforaphane on musculoskeletal health.
• The development of high-throughput in vitro screening methods (dietary phytochemical function discovery).
• The inhibition of MMP-14 as a viable therapeutic in Dupuytren’s Disease.

Rose is currently accepting PhD students.  Please get in touch if you would like to chat about a project.

Current and upcoming research and PhD project opportunities:

• The Role of Broccoli Bioactives in Osteoarthritis (EDESIA)
• The Impact of a Plant-Rich Diet on Osteoarthritis during Menopause
• Cultivating Joint Health: Unveiling the Remarkable Potential of Plant Bioactives in Tackling Osteoarthritis.
• Investigating the influence of vitamin D in cells of the joint and their regulation of the extracellular matrix.
• Dupuytren’s Disease: Harnessing cutting-edge technologies to understand how genetic variants lead to clinically relevant changes in cellular phenotype.

Teaching

Rose teaches on the MB BS medical degree:

• Gateway Self Selected Component- Nutrition Theme Lead
• Gateway Further Biology for Medicine - Lecturer
• Year 2 Dietary Aspects of Anaemia - Lecturer
• Year 3 Medical Research Theme - Module Lead
• Year 4 Medical Elective - Tutor.

Rose is a PhD research supervisor, PhD mentor for the EDESIA PhD program and supervises BSc Biomedicine UG final year lab-based research dissertation projects.

• NIHR/Versus Arthritis UK MSK TRC CMC Subtheme Lead for 'Maintaining joint health, preventing progression, and promoting regeneration'.
• Norwich Research Park Biorepository Access Committee (member)
• UEA Human Tissue Committee (member)
• UEA Human Tissue Sub Committee (member)
• UEA/MED Promotions Committee (observer)