Senior Research Associate, Division of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery

Email: rb10003@cam.ac.uk

Research interests

I have a number of interests in musculoskeletal research. These include investigating bone cell heterogeneity and the interactions of these cells with implant materials in vitro and in vivo. Several of the studies on biomaterials are being done with the Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials. I have a role in projects investigating the use of bioreactors for producing tissue engineering constructs and in in vitro vascularisation with the Materials Engineering & Material-Tissue Interactions group in the Department of Engineering and have a strong interest in the structure and function of osteoblast-derived extracellular matrix in collaboration with the NMR group in the Department of Chemistry. I am also involved in projects investigating the use of marrow stromal cells in joint repair and in establishing a musculoskeletal bio-resource for the local research community.

Key publications

Ying Chow W, Rajan R, Muller KH, Reid DG, Skepper JN, Wong WC, Brooks RA, Green M, Bihan D, Farndale RW, Slatter DA, Shanahan CM and Duer MJ.(2014) NMR spectroscopy of native in vitro tissues implicates polyADP ribose in biomineralisation. Science  344(6185): 742-6.

Ahmad, Z, Brooks R, Kang SN, Weaver H, Nunney I, Tytherleigh-Strong G, Rushton N.(2013) The effect of platelet-rich plasma on clinical outcomes in lateral epicondylitis. Arthroscopy  29 (11):1851-62

Meyer F, Wardale J, Best S, Cameron R, Rushton N, Brooks R.(2012) Effects of lactic acid and glycolic acid on human osteoblasts: a way to understand PLGA involvement in PLGA/calcium phosphate composite failure. J. Orthop. Res. 30(6): 864-71

Brooks RA. (2012)  Clinical aspects of the use of stem cells and biomaterials for bone repair and regeneration. In: Ramalingam M, Ramakrishna S, Best, SM. Biomaterials and Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine. Boca Raton, USA : CRC Press. p493-520.

Malheiro VN, Spear RL, Brooks RA, Markaki AE.(2011) Osteoblast and monocyte responses to 444 ferritic stainless steel intended for a magneto-mechanically actuated fibrous scaffold. Biomaterials 32(29): 6883-92.

Full list of publications on Research Gate

Areas of expertise

cell culture, immunohistochemistry, histology, tissue engineering, biomaterial science, bone tissue, cartilage tissue