Staff Profile

In January 2020 I moved into the newly created Research Technical Team Leader role to provide location-based management of technical services as part of the Faculty of Medical Services Infrastructure team based in the William Leech Building.

I Joined Newcastle University in 2007 with a role of technical support for the 85 study, a longitudinal study looking at biomarkers of ageing, moving on to support the Biomarker's facility based at the Campus for Ageing and Vitality. I provided technical support, advice and training on a variety of molecular and cellular techniques applied on biomedical research.  I also worked part time for the Newcastle Brain Tissue Resource (NBTR) supporting them with brain dissections, processing and embedding of tissue.  With them, gaining experience in immunohistochemistry techniques, basic tissue staining and tissue sectioning.

Bovine embryo transfer started my career in the laboratory 30 years ago and then Bovine Nuclear Transfer/Cloning had me moving to the USA and 17 years spent at Texas A&M University sequencing and genotyping North American Bison.

I am professionally registered with the Institute of Science and technology (IST) at the level of Registered Scientist (RSci) and trained to assess applications to the Science Council for Registered Scientist or Registered Science Technician.

I love my work and really enjoy the variety, having collaborated on a huge range of local, national and international projects.  Lucky enough to be working with colleagues that have always encouraged and enabled me to progress.

Previous Posts

1993-2007 Texas A&M University, Research Assistant/ Lab manager

2007-2019 Newcastle University, Research Technician, Bio Screening Facility

• Nettle D, Andrews C, Reichert S, Bedford T, Kolenda C, Parker C, Martin-Ruiz C, Monaghan P, Bateson M. Early-life adversity accelerates cellular ageing and affects adult inflammation: Experimental evidence from the European starling. Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 40794.
• Wyatt N, Hogarth L, Turner D, Patterson M, Jamieson D, Black F, Hutton C, Mulvenna P, Simmons T, Bradshaw A, Kolenda C, Parker C, Martin-Ruiz C, Greystoke A. Circulating Biomarkers of Frailty Are Associated with a Poor Prognosis in Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). In: IASLC 17th World Conference on Lung Cancer. 2016, Vienna, Austria: Elsevier.
• Nettle D, Andrews C, Reichert S, Bedford T, Gott A, Parker C, Kolenda C, Martin-Ruiz C, Monaghan P, Bateson M. Brood size moderates associations between relative size, telomere length, and immune development in European starling nestlings. Ecology and Evolution 2016, 6(22), 8138-8148.
• Collerton J, Martin-Ruiz C, Davies K, Hilkens CM, Isaacs J, Kolenda C, Parker C, Dunn M, Catt M, Jagger C, von Zglinicki T, Kirkwood TB. Frailty and the role of inflammation, immunosenescence and cellular ageing in the very old: Cross-sectional findings from the Newcastle 85+ Study. Mechanisms of Ageing and Development 2012, 133(6), 456-466.
• Reed KA, Hobert ME, Kolenda CE, Sands KA, Rathman M, O'Connor M, Lyons S, Gewirtz AT, Sansonetti PJ, Madara JL. The Salmonella typhimurium flagellar basal body protein FliE is required for flagellin production and to induce a proinflammatory response in epithelial cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2002, 277(15), 13346-13353.
• Douglas K, Halbert N, Kolenda C, Childers C, Hunter D, Derr J. Complete mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis of Bison bison and bison-cattle hybrids: Function and phylogeny. Mitochondrion 2011, 11(1), 166-175.
• Martin-Ruiz C, Williams-Gray CH, Yarnall AJ, Boucher JJ, Lawson RA, Wijeyekoon RS, Barker RA, Kolenda C, Parker C, Burn DJ, Von Zglinicki T, Saretzki G. Senescence and inflammatory markers for predicting clinical progression in Parkinson's disease-the ICICLE-PD study. Journal of Parkinson's Disease 2020, 10(1), 193-206.