Marc D. Mckee

Biography

Dr. Marc D. McKee is a professor at McGill University in Montreal in the Faculties of Dentistry and Medicine. He received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from McGill University in cell biology, and after a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard, he held an academic appointment at University of Montreal, after which he moved to McGill University in 1998. Dr. McKee's research focuses on molecular determinants of biomineralization in bones and teeth, and in pathologic calcification as seen in kidney stones, arthritis and vascular calcification. Dr. McKee has over 170 scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals (including in Nature, Nature Genetics, Cell, J. Experimental Medicine, J. Cell Biology, Genes & Development, Development, Circulation, Circulation Research, Advanced Materials, Biomaterials, J. Bone and Mineral Research and J. Dental Research), over 20 book chapters and conference proceedings papers, and over 320 scientific abstracts. He has a Thomson Reuters Citation Reports h-index of 51 with >11,800 total citations (and a Google Scholar h-index of 61 with > 14,800 total citations).

Research Interest

Research in my laboratory is primarily focused on mineralization (calcification) of extracellular matrices in bones and teeth, and in other biomineralizing systems such as inner-ear otoconia and eggshells. In particular, we are investigating the role of mineral-binding proteins in normal mineralization and pathologic mineralization as seen in urolithiasis (kidney stones), arthritis and vascular calcification (including atherosclerosis). We study how biomineralization is regulated by investigating the control of the phosphate/pyrophosphate balance in extracellular matrices by alkaline phosphatase and other pyrophosphate-handling proteins, and by investigating how extracellular matrix proteins and enzymes control mineral crystal growth. The proteins/enzymes we are currently focusing on are osteopontin, bone sialoprotein, dentin matrix protein-1, matrix Gla protein, ALPL, PHEX and PHOSPHO1. To study these processes, a variety of morphological, biochemical, immunochemical, cell biological and molecular techniques are used which include among others: electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, confocal microscopy, immunocytochemistry, in vivo experimentation using normal and transgenic mice, in vitro cell culture and crystal growth systems, and standard biochemical and chemical assays. In other work we are examining extracellular matrix organization and composition at cell-matrix and matrix-matrix interfaces, including at implantable biomaterial interfaces.