I am a first year PhD student at Keele University and The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital. I completed my undergraduate degree at Keele University where I was awarded a BSc in Biomedical Sciences. It was during my undergraduate degree I discovered my passion for regenerative medicine which led me to pursue a masters in Cell and Tissue Engineering at Keele University.

Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) is a cell-therapy that has been used for over 30 years for the treatment of patients with cartilage defects to offset the development of osteoarthritis (OA). This project involves the use of metabolomic analysis and bioinformatics to identify metabolites that can be used as biomarkers for the optimisation of chondrocyte-based therapies for human cartilage injuries. Through this study we can identify the characteristics displayed by not only chondrocytes but also the synovial fluid that are associated with good treatment outcomes. This information would not only enable patient stratification to identify those most likely to benefit from this treatment but also help reduce the costs incurred by the NHS that are associated with treatment failure.