Ana Valdes

Biography

Ana M. Valdes received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, USA, where she specialized in Genetic Epidemiology. She is a reader and associated professor at the University of Nottingham. Her research is focused on deciphering the molecular mechanisms related to ageing and in particular age related diseases such as osteoarthritis

Research Interest

  Genetics and molecular basis of osteoarthritis (OA): I have established extensive collaborations in this field with groups throughout Europe, Australia and the US, putting together one of the largest collections of DNA samples to study the genetics of this disease. I carried out the first GWAS on knee OA, am part of several OA GWAS consortia, and have co-authored over 70 peer reviewed articles in this field. Of particular interest are the molecular basis of pain in OA and as part of work funded by EULAR, the FP7 DBOARD study and the Arthritis Research Pain Centre I have recently published GWAS, biomarkers genetic association studies on the molecular basis of OA pain and neuropathic pain post total joint replacement.   Molecular basis of aging. I have co-authored several papers in this area including my work on the role of mitochondrial heteroplasmy on ageing and of telomeres as markers of biological aging as well as being a coapplicant in a Wellcome Trust programme grant to study the genetic basis of aging in female twins. I am also the principal investigator of a translational award from the Guy's and St Thomas' Trust Charity to assess the role of somatic mitochondrial mutations on atherosclerosis and obesity. The focus of my research on ageing is now moving into epigenetics, and we have been awareded an EU grant - EurHEALTHAgeing -- to study the role of epigenetic and metabolomic changes on early developmental factors (i.e. birthweight) on health outcomes related to ageing. I am currently co-investigator in the MRC stratified medicine consortium for hypertension AIM-HY   Obesity, metabolic syndrome and the gut microbiome. In collaboration with the Dept of Twin Research I have carried extensive work on the metabolomic profiles of obesity and visceral fat, the metabolomic signatures of weight loss and the role of the gut microbiome on weight loss and visceral fat. I have also investigated nutritional contributions to the gut microbiome. This work has received considerable media attention and I have helped to disseminate this work via The Conversation.