Dr Jemma Kerns SFHEA
Senior Lecturer and Director of ResearchResearch Overview
My main area of interest is in developing spectroscopic techniques (Raman and IR) for healthcare applications, specifically early diagnosis, particularly relating to bone conditions including osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and osteogenesis imperfecta. This includes the continued development of robust computational methodologies for spectral processing and analysis. I am particularly interested in advancing and combining these techniques to translate them into a clinical setting for the high-throughput diagnosis of medical conditions non-invasively in vivo.
As Director of Research for Lancaster Medical School, I aim to champion, advocate and support all of the amazing research we do.
Career Details
Senior Lecturer since August 2018.
PhD Supervision Interests
Please contact me if you are interested in undertaking a PhD in any of the following: 1) Raman spectroscopy and bone biology 2) Does non-invasive detection of mineralisation in bone offer an early diagnostic for bone disease? 3) Predicting and preventing osteoporosis.
Selected Publications
Measurement of abnormal bone composition in vivo using noninvasive Raman spectroscopy
Buckley, K., Kerns, J., Gikas, P.D., Birch, H., Vinton, J., Keen, R., Parker, A.W., Matousek, P., Goodship, A. 26/11/2014 In: IBMS BoneKEy. 11, p. 1-3. 3 p.
Journal article
The use of laser spectroscopy to investigate bone disease in King Henry VIII's sailors
Kerns, J., Buckley, K., Parker, A., Birch, H., Matousek, P., Hildred, A., Goodship, A. 01/2015 In: Journal of Archaeological Science. 53, p. 516-520. 5 p.
Journal article
Evidence from Raman spectroscopy of a putative link between inherent bone matrix chemistry and degenerative joint disease
Kerns, J.G., Gikas, P.D., Buckley, K., Shepperd, A., Birch, H.L., McCarthy, I., Miles, J., Briggs, T.W.R., Keen, R., Parker, A.W., Matousek, P., Goodship, A.E. 05/2014 In: Arthritis and Rheumatology. 66, 5, p. 1237-1246. 10 p.
Journal article
Millimeter-scale mapping of cortical bone reveals organ-scale heterogeneity
Buckley, K., Kerns, J.G., Parker, A.W., Goodship, A.E., Matousek, P. 04/2014 In: Applied Spectroscopy. 68, 4, p. 510-514. 5 p.
Journal article
Functional adaptation of long bone extremities involves the localized "tuning" of the cortical bone composition: evidence from Raman spectroscopy
Buckley, K., Kerns, J.G., Birch, H.L., Gikas, P.D., Parker, A.W., Matousek, P., Goodship, A.E. 11/2014 In: Journal of Biomedical Optics. 19, 11
Journal article
Discrimination of base differences in oligonucleotides using mid-infrared spectroscopy and multivariate analysis.
Kerns, J., Martin-Hirsch, P.L., Martin, F.L. 1/07/2009 In: Analytical Chemistry. 81, 13, p. 5314-5319. 6 p.
Journal article
Microspectroscopy of spectral biomarkers associated with human corneal stem cells
Nakamura, T., Kerns, J., Trevisan, J., Cooper, L.J., Bentley, A., Carmichael, P.L., Scott, A.D., Cotte, M., Susini, J., Martin-Hirsch, P.L., Kinoshita, S., Fullwood, N.J., Martin, F. 6/03/2010 In: Molecular Vision. 16, 42, p. 359-368. 10 p.
Journal article
Evidence for a stem-cell lineage in corneal squamous cell carcinoma using synchrotron-based Fourier-transform infrared microspectroscopy and multivariate analysis
Kerns, J., Nakamura, T., Kinoshita, S., Fullwood, N.J., Martin, F. 2010 In: Analyst. 135, 12, p. 3120-3125. 6 p.
Journal article
A spectral phenotype of oncogenic human papillomavirus-infected exfoliative cervical cytology distinguishes women based on age
Kerns, J., Cheung, K.T., Martin, C., O'Leary, J.J., Prendiville, W., Martin-Hirsch, P.L., Martin, F.L. 5/08/2010 In: Clinica Chimica Acta. 411, 15-16, p. 1027-1033. 7 p.
Journal article
Robust classification of low-grade cervical cytology following analysis with ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and subsequent application of self-learning classifier eClass
Kerns, J., Angelov, P.P., Trevisan, J., Vlachopoulou, A., Paraskevaidis, E., Martin-Hirsch, P.L., Martin, F.L. 11/2010 In: Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. 398, 5, p. 2191-2201. 11 p.
Journal article
Distinguishing cell types or populations based on the computational analysis of their infrared spectra
Martin, F., Kerns, J., Llabjani, V., Martin-Hirsch, P.L., Patel, I.I., Trevisan, J., Fullwood, N.J., Walsh, M.J. 11/2010 In: Nature Protocols. 5, 11, p. 1748-1760. 13 p.
Journal article
Combining immunolabeling and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy on cell membranes
Hodges, M., Kerns , J., Bentley, A.J., Fogarty, S., Patel, I.I., Martin, F.L., Fullwood, N.J. 12/2011 In: ACS Nano. 5, 12, p. 9535-9541. 7 p.
Journal article
Isolating stem cells in the inter-follicular epidermis employing synchrotron radiation-based Fourier-transform infrared microspectroscopy and focal plane array imaging
Patel, I.I., Harrison, W.J., Kerns, J.G., Filik, J., Wehbe, K., Carmichael, P.L., Scott, A.D., Philpott, M.P., Frogley, M.D., Cinque, G., Martin, F.L. 10/2012 In: Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. 404, 6-7, p. 1745-1758. 14 p.
Journal article
All Publications
Using Raman spectroscopy to distinguish between different types of ivory at customs
01/09/2023 → 31/03/2025
Other
Developing an interactive educational tool to support the sharing of information about the sailors aboard the Mary Rose, and their bone health. Short title: The bone health of sailors aboard The Mary Rose.
01/05/2023 → 30/09/2024
Other
MSI: Prevention of osteoporosis through early monitoring of multiple measures of bone health in one device
01/03/2023 → 31/08/2025
Research
Using Raman spectroscopy to identify ivory of unknown origin
02/01/2023 → 31/03/2025
Research
DSI: Effective Diagnosis and Treatment of Age-related Disease Through Time-varying Modelling
01/03/2021 → 30/09/2024
Research
EPSRC PhD Studentship (£66,336) MSI: VCSEL-based spectroscopy for next generation non-invasive and wearable glucose monitoring
01/10/2020 → 01/10/2023
Research
Can Raman spectroscopy improve pancreatic cancer diagnosis?
01/07/2019 → 30/09/2021
Research
How does gene and protein expressions, of collagen, affect the chemical and material properties of osteoarthritic bone?
01/05/2018 → 31/10/2022
Research
Proximity to Discover: Industry Engagement for Impact
31/03/2018 → 30/11/2019
Research
Lancaster Chemistry Academia-Industry Symposium
Symposium
I'm A Scientist Get Me Out Of Here
Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition
I'm a Scientist Get Me Out of Here
Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition
Assessing rare bone diseases using Raman spectroscopy-novel insights
Invited talk
Shining a light on bone
Invited talk
Karen Faulds
Hosting an academic visitor
Quantifying Extracellular Matrix Changes in Osteoarthritic Human Cartilage and Subchondral Bone Using Raman Microspectroscopy
Oral presentation
Can laser-based technology be used for the diagnosis and monitoring of AKU?
Invited talk
Can laser-based technology be used for the diagnosis and monitoring of AKU?
Invited talk
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Election to learned society
Inspirational Woman for EDI
Prize (including medals and awards)
- Cancer Biology and Genome Stability
- Centre for Ageing Research
- Experimental Medicine
- Lancaster Intelligent, Robotic and Autonomous Systems Centre
- LIRA - Biomedical