Dr Susanne N. Wijesinghe PhD, FHEA

• PhD in Molecular Biology, University of Birmingham, 2018
• MSc in Molecular Biotechnology, University of Birmingham, 2014
• BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, 2012

Sue studied Biomedical Science at Royal Holloway, University of London, graduating with honours before undertaking an MSc in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Birmingham. It was during her master’s that she developed a strong interest in gene regulation, inflammation, and the emerging potential of transcriptomics in disease research. This led her to pursue a PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Birmingham, based in Dr Aditi Kanhere’s lab, where she investigated the functional role of long non-coding RNAs in haematopoiesis. Using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, her work focused on the lncRNA CCDC26 and its influence on lineage commitment through DNA methylation and DNMT1 recruitment.

Following her PhD, she joined the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing (now Department of Inflammation and Ageing) as a postdoctoral research fellow in the OA and Musculoskeletal Inflammation Group led by Dr Simon Jones. Here, she has developed an interdisciplinary research profile at the intersection of molecular biology, bioinformatics, and translational science. Her work focuses on understanding how inflammation is modulated by systemic factors — particularly obesity — and how different tissues, such as adipose, synovium, and cartilage, communicate in the context of osteoarthritis (OA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). She has increasingly applied multi-omics approaches, including bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing, proteomics, and metabolomics, to uncover disease mechanisms and identify novel therapeutic targets.

Over the course of her postdoctoral training, Sue has established collaborations across academia, industry, and clinical research. These include working with Eli Lilly to co-develop omics-informed pain-modulating therapeutics and leading cross-species transcriptomic analyses in collaboration with AI and bioinformatics experts. She has also contributed to multi-institutional studies exploring senescence-associated extracellular vesicles with researchers from the Universities of Liverpool, Nottingham, and Maastricht, as well as biotech company TAmiRNA. These efforts have resulted in several first-author publications in high-impact journals including Arthritis & Rheumatology, EBioMedicine, Clinical and Translational Medicine, and Journal of Translational Medicine.

• MPharm Pharmacy – Lectures and small group tutorials in “Health, Disease and Therapeutics”
• BMedSci Biomedical Science – Contribution to lectures, Research Taster activities and assessment marking; research project supervision for final-year dissertations
• Tailored workshops on multi-omics data interpretation for research students and early career researchers

During her PhD and postdoctoral studies Dr. Wijesinghe has been involved in the supervision of:

• BSc (2)
• BMedSci (1)
• MRes (1)
• PhD-MIBTP project rotation (1)

• Uncovering obesity-driven mechanisms in psoriatic arthritis using multi-omics approaches to identify novel targets for therapeutic intervention
• Understanding the role of adipose tissue and adipose-derived extracellular vesicles in mediating obesity-associated decline in musculoskeletal health with ageing
• Investigating synovial fibroblast pain pathotypes as a roadmap to understanding and targeting the complexity of patient-reported joint pain in osteoarthritis
• Utilising multi-omic technologies to pathotype obesity-associated synovial fibroblasts win the pro-inflammatory joint environment
• Interrogating extracellular vesicle microRNA cargo from synovial fibroblasts involved in inducing senescence and pro-inflammatory bystander effect
• Characterising the role of obesity-associated non-coding RNAs during joint inflammation

Departmental Citizenship and Committees

• 2022–Present – Member, Postgraduate Research Committee; completed Mental Health First Aid training to support PGR and Masters student wellbeing
• 2022–Present – Member, Early Career Researcher Committee; co-developed and delivered career and personal development workshops for ECRs

Outreach and Public Engagement

• Ongoing – Contributor to the Microscopes4Schools oinitiative, engaging primary school students with hands-on science and spaking interest in STEM subjects
• Ongoing – Active engagement with NHS patient partners to integrate lived experience into research design, interpretation, and dissemination