Mike Horton
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- The application of atomic force microscopy (AFM) to biology
- Collagen nano-structure, mechanics and chemistry in normal and diseased bone
- Nanomedicine
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Contact details:
Office: 5P1
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 0056
Ext: 30056
Fax: +44 (0)20 7679 0595
Email: m.horton ucl.ac.uk
Web: Centre for Nanomedicine
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Biography and Research Interests
Prof. Mike Horton is head of Bone and Mineral research and the Sackler Institute of MusculoSkeletal Research in the Department of Medicine at UCL, and Director of Life Sciences in the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN). His work on skeletal biology has been funded over the past 20 years by consecutive programme grant support from ICRF (Cancer Research UK) and the Wellcome Trust. He is recognised internationally for his work on the cell biology and physiology of skeletal tissues and their disturbance in disease. His research has focussed on the role of adhesion proteins in bone turnover (the vitronectin receptor as a major adhesion factor regulating osteoclastic bone resorption) and identified, for the first time, a novel pathway by which degraded bone proteins are removed from the skeleton. Both have led to new diagnostic tests and treatments for osteoporosis.
New opportunities in his research arose from the development of the LCN, the joint UCL/Imperial College nanotechnology initiative, and the Cambridge/Bristol/UCL ‘interdisciplinary research collaboration’ (IRC) in nanotechnology funded by the UK joint research councils, with their opportunities for research and development at the interface of physics and biomedicine – ‘nanomedicine’. Of particular note has been his development of integrated confocal-atomic force microscopy for use in single molecule cell physiology. This methodology is driving applications early in the drug development pipeline, cellular mechano-biology, and the structure and chemistry of collagen at the nanoscale.
Recently he has been involved in the establishment of the ‘BioNanotechnology Centre’, a joint venture between UCL and Imperial College that is funded as part of the UK DTI’s MNT programme together with the London Development Agency. This new, not-for-profit company aims to insert itself into the biomedical nanotechnology value chain for the benefit of UK industry.
Publications
Bozec L, van der Heijden G, Horton M., Collagen fibrils: nanoscale ropes, Biophys J. 2007 92:70-5.
[download article]
Horton MA, Khan A., Medical nanotechnology in the UK: a perspective from the London Centre for Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine. 2006 2:42-8.
[download article]
Haupt BJ, Pelling AE, Horton MA., Integrated confocal and scanning probe microscopy for biomedical research, ScientificWorldJournal. 2006 6:1609-18.
[download article]
Bozec L, Horton MA., Skeletal tissues as nanomaterials, J Mater Sci Mater Med. 2006 17:1043-8.
[download article]
Bozec L, Horton M., Topography and mechanical properties of single molecules of type I collagen using atomic force microscopy, Biophys J. 2005 88:4223-31.
[download article]
Research Images
Image 1. 3D confocal fluoresecence image of a cell (osteoclast) resorbing bone (the bone surface is ‘blue’, the altered collagen ‘green’, and nuclei ‘red’)
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Image 2. An atomic force microscopy (AFM) topographic image of resorption lacuna formed by an osteoclast in bone |
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