Wolfson Volunteer Spotlight: Tasha Mapenzi
BSc (Hons) PhD FHEA
Rosemary Fricker is an academic researcher primarily in neurobiology, currently in botany and conservation. Her research interests include stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative disease, neural development, and the flora and fauna of the Fens.
Rosemary is an Alumna of Wolfson College (1992), obtaining a PhD in Neuroscience from Cambridge. Following postdoctoral positions at Lund University, Sweden, and Harvard Medical School, she held a Wellcome Trust Research Fellowship at Cardiff University, before joining Keele University Medical School. Alongside her research at Keele, she was Director of Medical Sciences, responsible for pre-clinical education in the MBChB programme. She is currently Director of Studies for Pre-clinical Medicine (Standard/Affiliate Course) at Wolfson.
Rosemary’s research interests include the conversion of stem cells to mature neurons and the role of vitamins in neuronal development and neuroprotection; as well as the development of “brain-on-a-chip” in vitro models of neural circuits.
Following the award of a Daphne Jackson Trust Fellowship, her research has taken a new direction: exploring the historical collections of plants and insects within the Herbarium and Zoology Museum at Cambridge University, to determine the impact of human activity on natural ecosystems in the Fens over the last 200 years.
Rosemary's primary research career focused on developing stem cell therapies to replace neurons lost in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Huntington’s. Her early work contributed to the development of novel ligands for use in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning to identify living transplants in clinical patients.
Later research on the influence of vitamins on neural development and the conversion of stem cells to mature functional neurons led to the identification of vitamin D as a neuroprotective agent for dopamine neurons, and the discovery that vitamin B3 acts as a switch to enhance the conversion of neural stem cells to mature neurons. In collaboration with colleagues at Loughborough University, she developed a microfluidic platform to model complex neuronal circuitry in vitro.
Rosemary is active in public outreach, working closely with Parkinson’s UK throughout her career. She is a strong advocate of Women in Science, and helped establish the Early Career Researchers Programme at Wolfson, including mentoring and professional development training.
What was it like to live on the edges of ancient empires, at the boundaries of the known world?
This talk explores whether data-driven methods can explain the relationship between climate change and large-scale pastoralist movements in the Sahel.
Professor Mary Davis will talk about her new book on Dona Torr: Historical Materialism and the Communist Historians.
Wolfson College Choir is joined by Inspirational Chorale, a gospel choir from the University of Arkansas.
Please come and join us for the launch of this year's WolfWords poetry anthology, which brings together poems from the entire Wolfson community.