Personal Statement
Current role:
Personal Chair, Department of Musculoskeletal and Ageing Science, University of Liverpool
Director of the BBSRC/MRC Extracellular Matrix ageing across the life course interdisciplinary research network, ECMage. ECMage network

Previous roles:
Reader in Musculoskeletal Biology, University of Liverpool
Research Lead, Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences, University of Liverpool
EuroAgeNet Director. EuroAgeNet
Deputy Head of the Department of Musculoskeletal and Ageing Science, University of Liverpool
Senior Lecturer in Musculoskeletal Biology, University of Liverpool
Lecturer in Orthopaedic Sciences, University of Liverpool
Post-doctoral Research Associate, Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research

Qualifications:
PhD Biochemistry (Arthritis UK studentship), University of Manchester
Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of Liverpool
BSc Hons (2:1) Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry, University of Nottingham
Diploma in Statistics, Open University

Research Overview
My group's research goals are to characterise the mechanisms of collagenous tissue development, repair and renewal. This research is important because age-related degeneration and loss of function is associated with chronic pain, reduced mobility and disease comorbidities. There is both a loss of tissue integrity and propensity to fibrosis indicating that homeostasis of the collagenous extracellular matrix is lost with age. Understanding the molecular processes that create functional tissues during development and growth, and which malfunction or cease to operate in aged tissues is key to developing new strategies for tissue engineering, to activate intrinsic stem cell repair mechanisms and to develop beneficial pharmaceutical, dietary or exercise-based interventions in an increasingly aged society.