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

Solid state 13 C CP MAS NMR study of molecular motions and interactions of urea adsorbed on cotton cellulose
JH Kristensen, N Bampos, M Duer
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
(2004)
6
29Si cross polarisation magic angle spinning spectroscopic studies on MCM-41 supported with metal carbonyl clusters
MD Jones, MJ Duer
Inorganica Chimica Acta
(2003)
354
Potent new heterogeneous asymmetric catalysts
J Rouzaud, MD Jones, R Raja, BFG Johnson, JM Thomas, MJ Duer
Helvetica Chimica Acta
(2003)
86
A solid-state NMR investigation of the odd-even effect in a series of liquid-crystal dimers
MJ Duer, C Roper
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.
(2003)
5
A solid-state NMR study of the structure and molecular mobility of α-keratin
MJ Duer, N McDougal, RC Murray
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.
(2003)
5
Solid‐State NMR Studies of MCM‐41 Supported with a Highly Catalytically Active Cluster
MD Jones, MJ Duer, S Hermans, YZ Khimyak, BFG Johnson, JM Thomas
Angewandte Chemie
(2002)
114
Solid-state NMR studies of MCM-41 supported with a highly catalytically active cluster
MD Jones, MJ Duer, S Hermans, YZ Khimyak, BFG Johnson, JM Thomas
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
(2002)
41
Solid-state NMR studies of the molecular motion in the kaolinite: DMSO intercalate
MJ DUER, J ROCHA, J KLINOWSKI
Journal of the American Chemical Society
(2002)
114
Ligand fields from misdirected valency. 2. Bent bonding in copper(II) acetylacetonates
RJ DEETH, MJ DUER, M GERLOCH
Inorganic Chemistry
(2002)
26
DYNAMICS OF WATER IN THE ALUMINOPHOSPHATE MOLECULAR-SIEVE VPI-5 - A H-2 NMR-STUDY
MJ DUER, HY HE, W KOLODZIEJSKI, J KLINOWSKI
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
(2002)
98

Head of group

Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 336483, 01223 763934 (shared)

Email address