Rose is an active research group leader based in the Metabolic Health Department of the Norwich Medical School and her work is closely aligned with HealthUEA. Rose is a Director of the Wellcome Trust EDESIA PHD Programme. 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 compounds from the diet might interact with these to promote musculoskeletal health and prevent disease.

Rose has special interests in Osteoarthritis and Dupuytren’s disease. Rose and her group acknowledge the willingness and generosity of patients who donate their time and/or tissue samples that inform and enable this research.

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).
• Women's experiences of joint health and dietary behaviours to manage joint symptoms during menopause.
• Exploring menopause-related joint symptoms and associations with longer term joint health outcomes.

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

Teaching

Rose teaches and examines across our medical degree programmes:

• Gateway Medicine: Self Selected Component- Nutrition Theme Lead
• Gateway Medicine: Further Biology for Medicine - Lecturer
• MB BS: Year 2 Dietary Aspects of Anaemia - Lecturer
• MB BS: Year 3 Medical Research Theme - Module Lead
• MB BS: Year 4 Medical Elective - Tutor
• MB BS: Year 5 Evidence Based Medicine - Lecturer
• Graduate Entry Medicine: Year 1 Introduction to Nutrition - Lecturer

• Wellcome Trust EDESIA PhD Programme (Director)
• 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)