Marc D. McKee
Professor, Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences, Anatomy & Cell Biology
E-mail: marc.mckee [at] mcgill.ca
Research Area: Biological Modelling, Cellular Mechanisms, Cryo-electron microscopy, Nanoscience, Structural Biology
McKee's research is on quantitative, 3D multiscale bioimaging analysis (by various optical, X-ray and electron microscopies) of mineralized extracellular matrices in bones and teeth, in mineralization pathologies, and in other biomineralizing systems such as inner-ear otoconia and eggshells. As a structural biologist, he also investigates the mechanisms by which mineral-binding proteins, peptides, amino acids, and small molecules guide biomineralization processes, and how enzymes modify their mineralization-regulating activities. He also studies rare bone diseases where skeletal and dental mineralization is defective, and where ectopic pathologic mineralization occurs in soft tissues such as in the kidney (kidney stones), in blood vessels (vascular calcification), and in tendon and ligament insertions (entheses).