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Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

Professor of Biological and Biomedical Chemistry

What we do...

Our research focusses on the molecular structure of biological tissues.  The bulk of structural tissues such as bone, muscle, tendon and skin, is the so-called extracellular matrix.  This extracellular material gives the tissue its essential mechanical properties, for instance the stiffness and toughness of bone, the elasticity of skin.  The molecular structure of the extracellular matrix is complex and subject to equally complex chemistry on a daily basis.  This leads to structural changes, which in ageing, in diseases such as cancer and degenerative diseases like osteoarthritis can be substantial.  Cells take their cues from the molecular structure of the extracellular matrix that surrounds them, and so their behaviour changes when the extracellular matrix structure changes.  This results in aberrant cell behaviour in cancer for instance, and imperfect tissue repair after damage in ageing.

The major paradigm in our research is that normal cell behaviour can be restored by restoring normal extracellular matrix structure. Our work aims to generate the understanding needed to drive development of new therapeutics for degenerative diseases.

You can read more about our research here.

We are funded by... 

The European Research Council, the Medcical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation, Cycle Pharmaceuticals and Cambridge Oncology.

Watch Professor Melinda Duer discuss her research

Take a two-minute tour of the Duer Lab

Publications

Innentitelbild: Pigmentierungschemie und radikalbasierter Kollagenabbau bei Alkaptonurie und Arthrose (Angew. Chem. 29/2020)
WY Chow, BP Norman, NB Roberts, LR Ranganath, C Teutloff, R Bittl, MJ Duer, JA Gallagher, H Oschkinat
– Angewandte Chemie
(2020)
132,
11770
Pigmentation Chemistry and Radical-Based Collagen Degradation in Alkaptonuria and Osteoarthritic Cartilage.
WY Chow, BP Norman, NB Roberts, LR Ranganath, C Teutloff, R Bittl, MJ Duer, JA Gallagher, H Oschkinat
– Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
(2020)
59,
11937
DNA Damage Response
M Duer, AM Cobb, CM Shanahan
– Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
(2020)
40,
e193
Glycation changes molecular organization and charge distribution in type I collagen fibrils.
S Bansode, U Bashtanova, R Li, J Clark, KH Müller, A Puszkarska, I Goldberga, HH Chetwood, DG Reid, LJ Colwell, JN Skepper, CM Shanahan, G Schitter, P Mesquida, MJ Duer
– Sci Rep
(2020)
10,
3397
Pigmentation Chemistry and Radical-Based Collagen Degradation in Alkaptonuria and Osteoarthritic Cartilage
WY Chow, BP Norman, N Roberts, L Ranganath, C Teutloff, R Bittl, MJ Duer, J Gallagher, H Oschkinat
(2020)
Pigmentation Chemistry and Radical-Based Collagen Degradation in Alkaptonuria and Osteoarthritic Cartilage
WY Chow, B Norman, N Roberts, L Ranganath, C Teutloff, R Bittl, M Duer, J Gallagher, H Oschkinat
(2020)
Pigmentation Chemistry and Radical-Based Collagen Degradation in Alkaptonuria and Osteoarthritic Cartilage
WY Chow, B Norman, N Roberts, L Ranganath, C Teutloff, R Bittl, M Duer, J Gallagher, H Oschkinat
(2020)
Detection of nucleic acids and other low abundance components in native bone and osteosarcoma extracellular matrix by isotope enrichment and DNP-enhanced NMR.
I Goldberga, R Li, WY Chow, DG Reid, U Bashtanova, R Rajan, A Puszkarska, H Oschkinat, MJ Duer
– RSC Adv
(2019)
9,
26686
Poly(ADP ribose) links the DNA damage response and biomineralization
K Mueller
– Cell Rep
(2019)
27,
3124
Water desorption in Kelvin-probe force microscopy: A generic model
P Mesquida, D Kohl, S Bansode, M Duer, G Schitter
– Nanotechnology
(2018)
29,
505705
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Research Group

Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 763934 (shared)
36483

Email address

mjd13@cam.ac.uk