Dr Susanne N. Wijesinghe BSc (Hons) MSc PhD

Dr Susanne Wijesinghe

Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Post-doctoral Researcher

Contact details

Email
s.n.wijesinghe@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@drsuewij
View my research portal
Address
Institute of Inflammation and Ageing
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2WB

Dr Susanne Wijesinghe has a background in non-coding RNAs, transcriptomics and gene editing in arthritic joints and is developing her interests in exosome biology in cellular crosstalk.

Her current research in Professor Simon Jones’ group focuses on the effects of obesity and pain in the pathology of ageing and diseased joints.

Qualifications

  • 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

Biography

Sue studied Biomedical Science at Royal Holloway, University of London, before pursuing a master’s in Molecular Biotechnology at University of Birmingham, gaining an interest in epigenetics, gene regulation and transcriptomics. She went on to complete her PhD studying long non-coding RNAs during haematopoietic lineage commitment in Dr. Aditi Kanhere’s lab where she utilized CRISPR/Cas9 technology to silence CCDC26 lncRNA and determine its functional role in cell fate decisions through DNMT1- associated methylation. 

Sue then moved to the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing where she joined the OA and Musculoskeletal Inflammation Group led by Prof. Simon Jones where she continues to investigate the epigenetic role of non-coding RNAs in the context of osteoarthritis.  Here, Sue has developed her research interests on the inflammatory effects of obesity and pain within arthritic joints and through successful collaborations also expanded her interests into the role of exosomes in cellular crosstalk during ageing-associated senescence.

Teaching

Lectures and small group teaching in MPharm: Health, Disease and Therapeutics

Research

  • 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
  • Utilizing 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

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Acharjee, A, Wijesinghe, S, Russ, D, Gkoutos, G & Jones, S 2024, 'Cross-species transcriptomics identifies obesity associated genes between human and mouse studies', Journal of translational medicine, vol. 22, no. 1, 592. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-024-05414-1

Wijesinghe, S, Badoume, A, Nanus, D, Sharma-Oates, A, Farah, H, Certo, M, Alnajjar, FAQ, Davis, E, Mauro, C, Lindsay, MA & Jones, S 2023, 'Obesity defined molecular endotypes in the synovium of patients with osteoarthritis provides a rationale for therapeutic targeting of fibroblast subsets', Clinical and Translational Medicine, vol. 13, no. 4, e1232. https://doi.org/10.1002/ctm2.1232

Farah, H, Wijesinghe, S, Nicholson, T, Alnajjar, FAQ, Certo, M, Alghamdi, AMA, Davis, E, Young, S, Mauro, C & Jones, S 2022, 'Differential metabotypes in synovial fibroblasts and synovial fluid in hip osteoarthritis patients support inflammatory responses', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 23, no. 6, 3266. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23063266

Wijesinghe, SN, Brown, TJ, Nanus, DE, Housmans, B, Green, JA, Hackl, M, Choi, KK, Arkill, KP, Welting, T, James, V, Jones, SW, Peffers, MJ & Anderson, JR 2022, 'The role of extracellular vesicle miRNAs and tRNAs in synovial fibroblast senescence', Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, vol. 9, 971621. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2022.971621

UK GAPP Study Group 2021, 'Novel gene variants in patients with platelet-based bleeding using combined exome sequencing and RNAseq murine expression data', Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 262-268. https://doi.org/10.1111/jth.15119

Nanus, D, Badoume, A, Wijesinghe, S, Halsey, A, Hurley, P, Ahmed, Z, Botchu, R, Davis, E, Lindsay, MA & Jones, S 2021, 'Synovial tissue from sites of joint pain in knee osteoarthritis patients exhibits a differential phenotype with distinct fibroblast subsets', EBioMedicine, vol. 72, 103618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103618

Alnajjar, FAQ, Sharma-Oates, A, Wijesinghe, S, Farah, H, Nanus, D, Nicholson, T, Davis, E & Jones, S 2021, 'The expression and function of metastases associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript-1 long non-coding RNA in subchondral bone and osteoblasts from patients with osteoarthritis', Cells, vol. 10, no. 4, 786. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10040786

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Wijesinghe, SN, Lindsay, MA & Jones, SW 2022, Long non-coding RNAs in rheumatology. in Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. vol. 1363, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, Springer, pp. 35-70. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92034-0_4

Abstract

Wijesinghe, SN, Acharjee, A, Russ, D, Gkoutos, G & Jones, SW 2024, '677 - Cross-species transcriptomics and machine learning identifies conserved obesity associated genes in osteoarthritic joint tissues', Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, vol. 32, no. Supplement 1, pp. S466-S467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joca.2024.02.692

Wijesinghe, SN, Botchu, R, Sardeli, AV, Ditchfield, CN, Davies, ET & Jones, SW 2024, '743 - Specific sites of patient-reported joint pain coincide with presence of bone marrow lesions in knee osteoarthritis patients', Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, vol. 32, no. Supplement 1, pp. S509-S510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joca.2024.02.758

Nanus, D, Wijesinghe, S, Pearson, M, Hadjicharalambous, MR, Rosser, A, Davis, E, Lindsay, M & Jones, S 2020, 'Clinical Connections: regulation of the inflammatory synovial fibroblast phenotype by metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 long noncoding RNA in obese patients with osteoarthritis', Arthritis and Rheumatology, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. A16-A16. https://doi.org/10.1002/art.40957

Nanus, D, Badoume, A, Wijesinghe, S, Hurley, P, Davis, E, Lindsay, M & Jones, S 2020, 'Identification of synovial fibroblasts subsets associated with pain and progression of knee osteoarthritis by single cell sequencing', Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, vol. 28, no. S86-S527, 189, pp. S133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joca.2020.02.220

Review article

Wijesinghe, S, Ditchfield, C, Flynn, S, Agrawal, J, Davis, E, Dajas-Bailador, F, Chapman, V & Jones, S 2024, 'Immunomodulation and fibroblast dynamics driving nociceptive joint pain within inflammatory synovium: Unravelling Mechanisms for Therapeutic Advancements in Osteoarthritis', Osteoarthritis and Cartilage. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joca.2024.06.011

Nicholson, TA, Sagmeister, M, Wijesinghe, SN, Farah, H, Hardy, RS & Jones, SW 2023, 'Oligonucleotide Therapeutics for Age-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders: Successes and Challenges', Pharmaceutics, vol. 15, no. 1, 237. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15010237

Wijesinghe, S, Lindsay, MA & Jones, S 2021, 'Oligonucleotide therapies in the treatment of arthritis: a narrative review', Biomedicines, vol. 9, no. 8, 902. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9080902

View all publications in research portal