Rhonda completed her PhD in 2015 under the supervision of Dr Daniela Ulgiati. The focus of her doctoral studies was the identification and characterisation transcriptional regulatory mechanisms, and the role of non-coding single nucleotide polymorphisms in human health and autoimmune disease.

Rhonda is now applying her interest in regulation of gene expression to the field of muscle disease. Specifically her research has two main aims; 1) To improve rates of diagnosis by developing a pipeline for the routine screening of regulatory regions, and 2) to develop new treatments for early onset neuromuscular disorders. Areas of investigation include AAV-mediated gene therapy, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and manipulation of gene expression, oligonucleotide-based therapeutics, and induced pluripotent stem cell models of muscle disease.

Rhonda also has experience teaching and lecturing in the field of genetics as part of the school of biomedical sciences.