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Professor Melinda Duer is a Professor of Biological and Biomedical Chemistry in the Dept of Chemistry, University of Cambridge. She was appointed Deputy Warden of Robinson College, Cambridge in 2016 and is also a Fellow in Natural Sciences (Physical) at the College.

Early life
Duer was born in the UK on 1 October 1963. She emigrated with family to Perth, Australia, before returning to the UK Cornwall in 1972. She was educated at Sir James Smith's School based in North Cornwall.

Academic life
Duer completed her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Cambridge (Dept of Chemistry) in 1989, and then took up a temporary appointment as a lecturer in the same department, during which time she trained herself in the then relatively new technique of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Four years a Royal Society Research Fellow followed, where she focussed on developing new solid-state NMR experiments to examine molecular structures and dynamics, particularly for complex systems. Ten years ago, then a Senior Lecturer (and still in Cambridge), she began to develop and apply solid-state NMR methods to study the atomic structure of bone and other biological tissues. Today she is Professor of Biological and Biomedical Chemistry in the Dept of Chemistry, University of Cambridge and has a broad range of research interests covering the development of calcified tissues, the molecular structure of both the organic matrix and mineral components of these tissues and the changes in molecular structure and dynamics/ flexibility with age and disease.

Professor Duer’s research into the atomic structures of musculoskeletal tissues such as bone and cartilage, and vascular tissue is aimed at understanding both the physiological and pathological processes involved in the development of collagenous tissues, bone mineralization, and the changes in tissues associated with ageing and diseases such as cancer.

Duer is a pioneer of combining techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and computer modelling and imaging to investigate tissues at the molecular level.

Duer’s research has many strands, which include investigating the causes vascular and kidney calcification, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. She is also involved in a three-year study funded by the Medical Research Foundation on the destructive effect of sugar on cells at the molecular level.

Books, Chapters, Reviews and Editorial

 * The contribution of NMR spectroscopy to understanding biomineralization: the atomic and molecular structure of bone, M.J. Duer, J. Magn. Reson. 53 (special issue) (2015) 98-110


 * Solid-state NMR spectroscopy for studying biominerals at the molecular level: the nuts and bolts. M.J. Duer, book chapter for Characterization of Biominerals and Biomimetic Materials, (Taylor & Francis, 2014).


 * Water brings order, M.J. Duer and A. Veis, News and Views for Nature Materials, 13-1082, doi:10.1038/nmat3822


 * The molecular glue binding organic matrix and mineral crystals in biominerals: basic amino acids may be as important as acidic ones. A perspective on the role of amino acids in molecular recognition of hydroxyapatite by statherin using solid-state NMR, by M. Ndao, J.T. Ash, P. Stayton and G. Drobny.  M.J. Duer, Surf. Sci. 604 (2010) 1237 -1238.


 * NMR Crystallography, book edited by R.K. Harris, R.E. Wasylishen and M.J. Duer, Wiley, 2009.


 * Structural information from quadrupolar nuclei in the solid state.  S.E. Ashbrook, M.J. Duer,  Concepts in Magn. Reson. A 28A(3) (2006) 183-248.


 * An Introduction to Solid-state NMR Spectroscopy, book by M.J. Duer, Blackwell Science Ltd. 2004.


 * Solid-State NMR: Theory and Applications, book edited by M.J. Duer (and six chapters contributed by M.J. Duer) (Blackwell Science Ltd., 2001).


 * Solid-state NMR studies of molecular motion, M.J. Duer, chapter in Annual Reports on NMR Spectroscopy 43 (2001) 1- 58 (published by Academic Press).


 * Analysis and Structure of Molecules, M.J. Duer and K. Stott, chapter in The Age of the Molecule, edited by Nina Hall (Royal Society of Chemistry, 1999).


 * Solid-state NMR, M.J. Duer, chapter in Solid-State Organometallic Chemistry (1999) Edited by M. Gielen, R. Willem, B. Wrackmeyer, published by J. Wiley  & Sons Ltd.