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Contact Details

Email
emma.wade@otago.ac.nz

University Links

Position
Sir Charles Hercus Research Fellow
Department
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Dunedin)
Qualifications
BSci (Hons) PhD
Research summary
Genetics of connective tissue disorders, with a focus on rare genetic contributors to common connective tissue disorders especially pelvic organ prolapse

Research

Emma Wade is a Sir Charles Hercus Research Fellow in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Women’s Health. She completed her undergraduate degree in genetics from the University of York, in 2010. As part of her degree she spent time in a rare-disease genetics lab in Edinburgh. After graduating, she worked for two years at the University of Manchester on eye disease genetics, before relocating to Dunedin, NZ in 2013 to undertake a PhD in rare, skeletal disorders with Prof. Stephen Robertson at the University of Otago.

After time as a post-doctoral researcher and a research fellow in the Laboratory for Genomic medicine, working on the molecular mechanisms of rare, connective tissue disorders, she was awarded the Sir Charles Hercus Fellowship to support her work on rare genetic contributors to common connective tissue disorders, focused mainly on pelvic organ prolapse. Emma is focused on what rare disorders can teach us about common disease and how discoveries in the rare space can lead to novel treatments for diseases of aging, especially for women.

Her research on pelvic organ prolapse is focused on why some women experience prolapse at a young age, and whether there is a genetic factor involved. She is recruiting for a genetics study here in Aotearoa, and is enrolling participants with a vagina, both those who have both experienced a prolapse and those who have not. Please get in contact if you are interested in participating. Her research is also making use of large international health and genetic datasets.

Additional details

Section editor European Journal of Human Genetics

Publications

Moody, E. C., Wade, E. M., Mizumoto, S., McCallum-Loudeac, J., & Wilson, M. J. (2026). Deletion of a Pax1 sex-associated genomic region associated with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis leads to disc degeneration, instability, and vertebral rotation in mice. JOR Spine, 9, e70177. doi: 10.1002/jsp2.70177 Journal - Research Article

Moody, E. C., Wade, E. M., Mizumoto, S., McCallum-Loudeac, J., & Wilson, M. J. (2025, December). Decision of a sex-associated genomic region linked to adolescent idiopathic scoliosis leads to disc degeneration, instability, and vertebral rotation. Verbal presentation at the Australian and New Zealand Association of Clinical Anatomists (ANZACA) Virtual Conference: Anatomy in Action, [online]. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Wade, E. M., Goodin, E. A., Morgan, T., Pereira, S., Woolley, A. G., Jenkins, Z. A., Daniel, P. B., & Robertson, S. P. (2024). The hinge-1 domain of Flna is not necessary for diverse physiological functions in mice. European Journal of Clinical Investigation, 54, e14308. doi: 10.1111/eci.14308 Journal - Research Article

Wade, E., Mulholland, K., Shaw, I., Cundy, T., & Robertson, S. (2024). Idiopathic juvenile osteoporosis: A polygenic disorder? JBMR Plus, 8, ziae099. doi: 10.1093/jbmrpl/ziae099 Journal - Research Article

Wade, E. M., Morgan, T., Gimenez, G., Jenkins, Z. A., Titheradge, H., O'Donnell, M., … Robertson, S. P. (2024). Pathogenic FLNA variants affecting the hinge region of filamin A are associated with male survival. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 194A, e63779. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.a.63779 Journal - Research Article

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