Associate Professor Bowden is co-Director of the University of Newcastle Centre for Drug Repurposing and Medicines Research and leads the DNA Repair Group. Her research has the overall aim of delivering personalised diagnosis and treatment to patients with cancer, with a more focused interest in investigating DNA repair and drug repurposing for melanoma and ovarian cancer.

She is co-supervisor of an ACRE-supported HDR student who is investigating the immune system and tumour microenvironment of glioblastoma. Together they are working to determine if CBD or THC can be used to target these features to improve treatment options for patients with glioblastoma.

She is also a co-investigator on the HMRI-funded project “Early phase high throughput studies of cannabinoids using new understandings of glioblastoma biology, radiobiology and pharmacology”.