Reader in Biological and Biomedical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry

E-mail: mjd13@cam.ac.uk

Research interests

My interest lies in understanding the fundamental molecular structure of musculoskeletal tissues, and how this changes, as a result of trauma or disease.  The extracellular matrix is the major part of our all our musculoskeletal tissues.  The world now has huge insight into the fundamental processes of life that happen inside a cell, how cells select which proteins are to be made via DNA blueprints, the molecular pathways by which cells function and ultimately, live.  In comparison, there is rather little  understanding or knowledge of the extracellular matrix at the molecular level.  Yet how cells bind to the extracellular matrix fundamentally determines how cells behave; the extracellular matrix provides the means of communication between cells, ensures they act in concert, move to a site of injury for repair.   Changes in the molecular and atomic structure of our musculoskeletal tissues fundamentally changes the way in which the cells in them behave, and so ultimately, how that tissue performs its function.  By understanding the fundamental chemistry of life in the extracellular matrix of our musculoskeletal tissues and how it changes in conditions like osteoporosis enables new therapeutic approaches to be rationally designed.

Key publications

Chow WY, Rajan R, Muller KH,  Reid DG,  Skepper JN, Wong WC, Brooks RA, Green M, Bihan D, Farndale RW,  Slatter DA, Shanahan CM, Duer MJ. (2014) NMR spectroscopy of native and in vitro tissues implicates polyADP ribose in biomineralization. Science. 344; 742-746.

Davies E, Muller KH, Wong WC, Pickard CJ, Reid DG, Skepper JN, Duer MJ. (2014) Citrate bridges between mineral platelets in bone. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 111 E1354–E1363, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1315080111

Reid DG,  Duer MJ,  Jackson GE, Murray RC, Rodgers AL, Shanahan CM. (2013) Citrate occurs widely in healthy and pathological apatitic biomineral: mineralized articular cartilage, and intimal atherosclerotic plaque and apatitic kidney stones. Calcif. Tiss. Int. 93; 253 – 260

Chow WY, Taylor AM, Reid DG, Gallagherand JA,  Duer MJ. (2011) Collagen atomic scale molecular disorder in ochronotic cartilage from an alkaptonuria patient, observed by solid-state NMRJ. Inherited Metabolic Disease. 34: 1137 – 1140.

Wise ER, Maltsev S, Davies ME,  Duer MJ, Jaeger C, Loveridge N,  Murray RC,  Reid DG. (2007) The mineral-organic interface in bone is lined by polysaccharide. Chem. Mat. 19: 5055-5057.

Areas of expertise

NMR spectroscopy, extracellular matrix, molecular structure, collagen, molecular dynamics, bone mineral