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Helen Graham, PhD

Dr

 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5404-9569

Personal profile

Overview

As a lecturer and Programme Director of the MSc Programme for Skin Ageing and Aesthetic Medicine in the School of Medicine I support the development, delivery and quality management of the curriculum.

My research career to date has largely been dedicated to understanding the molecular mechanisms within the extracellular matrix which underpin the age related changes in mechanical properties of elastic tissues such as the cardiovascular system, and more recently, the skin.

Biography

Currently I am a lecturer and Programme Director on the MSc Programme for Skin Ageing and Aesthetic Medicine; a distance learning course for full time clinicians. My reasearch focusses on the extracellular matrix and its effect on the mechanical properties of skin with age and ethnicity. I have also been supported by the British Heart Foundation to investigate the molecular mechanisms which contribute to the contracile dysfunction of the heart during the progression to heart failure

Prior to this post I was working under the auspices of VSO as a biochemistry lecturer in the University of Malawi Medical School (Feb 2000-Oct 2001).

I completed my PhD in Biochemistry in 1999 at the University of Manchester and investigated the mechanisms of collagen fibrillogenesis during development.

Research interests

My primary research interests have focussed on the extracellular matrix, and the changes which occur with age and disease. I am currently investigating the mechanisms which determine the changes in skin elasticity as we age, using gross mechanical measures and finite element modelling.
I have also studied the molecular mechanisms which underlie contractile dysfunction at the onset of heart failure. We have demonstrated that, in the progression to heart failure, considerable electrical and extracellular matrix remodelling occurs which contributes to contractile dysfunction. We have recently begun to probe the molecular mechanics of the sarcomeric protein titin to determine if changes in this molecule contribute to diastolic dysfunction observed in heart failure.

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

British Society of Matrix Biology

Physiological Society

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) in Anatomical Sciences

PhD, University of Manchester. Collagen Fibrillogenesis during Tendon Morphogenesis.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy

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