Duncan Bassett

Biography

Duncan Bassett is a Professor of Endocrinology at Imperial College and is a Consultant Physician at the Academic Health Sciences Centre specialising in Metabolic Bone Disease. He obtained a BA in Pathology from Cambridge University and a BM BCh from Oxford University. He undertook his research training at the Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre, initially as an MRC Clinical Training Fellow and subsequently as MRC Clinician Scientist. He completed his PhD at Imperial College in 2000, was appointed Professor in 2013 and a Wellcome Trust Investigator in 2016. Professor Bassett is a Principal Investigator in the Molecular Endocrinology Laboratory in the Department of Medicine at the Hammersmith Hospital. His current research is focused on understanding the fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie skeletal development, maintenance and repair and their dysregulation in chronic degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. His investigation of the molecular basis of bone and cartilage disease have resulted in the identification of new genetic determinants of bone mass and strength and resulted in Wellcome Trust Strategic Award funding. Professor Bassett also has longstanding interest in thyroid hormone action and particularly its role in the developing and adult skeleton. His studies have clarified the complex relationship between central and peripheral thyroid status and identified a critical role for local thyroid hormone metabolism in bone and cartilage. These studies have been the result of longstanding and productive collaborations with many of the worlds leading thyroid hormone researchers and have recently resulted in Horizon 2020 funding and a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award.

Research Interest

Endocrinology