Dr. Craig Murdoch (BSc, PhD)

Non-Clinical Lecturer in Oral Science

Non-Clinical Lecturer in Oral Science

Unit of Oral & Maxillofacial Medicine & Surgery
Room C42
School of Clinical Dentistry
University of Sheffield
Claremont Crescent
Sheffield, S10 2TA

Tel: +44 (0) 114 2265458

email : c.murdoch@sheffield.ac.uk

Research Interests

Head and Neck Cancer

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) ranks among the top ten most common cancers worldwide. The survival rate for this cancer is poor, largely due to late diagnosis and a lack of effective therapeutic agents.

In collaboration with other members of the Oral Disease Cluster, I am pursuing a number of research avenues which aim to use diagnostic markers for early detection of HNSCC, to elucidate novel therapeutic targets to halt disease progression, to understand how tumour cells interact with the endothelium during metastasis and to study the interaction between stromal cells (fibroblasts, leukocytes) and tumour cells in the tumour microenvironment.

www.sheffield.ac.uk/dentalschool/research/groups/oral-disease/oral-cancer

Host-microbial interactions

The mucosa of the oral cavity is constantly in contact with many different types of micro-organisms. Some of these are commensal organisms whilst others cause disease.

I am interested in how the fungal organism Candida albicans and the Gram-negative bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis interact with the oral mucosa and the molecular mechanisms of the host innate immune system against these pathogens.

www.sheffield.ac.uk/dentalschool/research/groups/oral-disease/infection-and-disease

Current projects

• Characterization of Suspicious Oral Lesions Using Novel Lab-on-a-Chip Ensembles (National Institutes for Health, USA, with Prof Martin Thornhill & Prof Paul Speight)
  BBC Look North programme
• Using Polymersomes to Deliver Chemotherapeutic Agents to Head & Neck Cancer Cells (Yorkshire Cancer Research, with Prof. Martin Thornhill & Dr Beppe Battaglia)
• Regulation of the pro-angiogenic functions of Tie-2+ monocytes by angiopoietin-2 and hypoxia (Breast Cancer Campaign, with Prof. Claire Lewis)
• The use of Impedance Spectroscopy to Detect Neoplastic Oral Lesions (National Institute for Health Research, with Prof. Martin Thornhill)
• Investigating Mechanisms of Tumour Metastasis: Binding of Tumour Cells to the Endothelium. (Yorkshire Cancer Research, with Prof Martin Thornhill)
• Use of a Novel Zebrafish Model to Investigate the role of Hypoxic Macrophages in Tumour Progression and Response to Therapy (Cancer Research UK, with Prof. Claire Lewis & Dr Tim Chico)
• Investigating Mechanisms of Candida albicans Adhesion to the Endothelium using Zebrafish and Innate Oral Epithelial Defence Mechanisms in Response to Candida albicans.
• Polymersome-Mediated Antibiotic Delivery to Treat Porphyromonas gingivalis-Infected Oral Epithelial Cells (with Prof. Martin Thornhill & Dr Beppe Battaglia)
• Porphyromonas gingivalis Infection of Endothelial Cells - A Possible Mechanism for the Association Between Periodontal Disease and Cardiovascular Disease (Royal College of Surgens)

Members of the Research Team:

• Dr Helen Colley – Post-doctoral Research Associate
• Dr Jill Callaghan – Post-doctoral Research Associate
• Ms Katy D’Apice – Research Nurse
• Mr Nishant Yadev – PhD Student
• Ms Kornchanok Wayakanon – PhD Student
• Mr John Higham – PhD Student
• Ms Abigail Rice (with Prof. Ian Douglas)
• Mr Thomas Evans – BMedSci Student

Recent Publications

• Yadev NP, Murdoch C, Saville SP, Thornhill MH. (2011) Evaluation of tissue engineered models of the oral mucosa to investigate oral candidiasis. Microbial Pathogenesis (in press)
• Tazzyman S, Barry ST, Ashton S, Wood P, Blakey D, Lewis CE, Murdoch C. (2011) Inhibition of neutrophil infiltration into A549 lung tumors in vitro and in vivo using a CXCR2-specific antagonist is associated with reduced tumor growth. Int J Cancer (in press)
• Coffelt SB, Chen Y-Y, Welford AF, Tal AO, Scholz A, Plate KH, Reiss Y, Muthana M, Murdoch C, De Palma M, Lewis CE. (2011) Angiopoietin-2 stimulated TIE2-expressing monocytes suppress T cell activation and promote regulatory T cell expansion. J Immunol (in press).
• Muthana M, Giannoudis A, Scott SD, Fang H-Y, Coffelt SB, Morrow FJ, Murdoch C, Burton J, Cross N, Burke B, Mistry R, Hamdy F, Brown NJ, Georgopoulos L, Hoskin P, Essand M, Lewis CE, Maitland NJ. (2011) Use of macrophages to target therapeutic adenovirus to human prostate tumors. Cancer Res (in press).
• Dogan S, Zhang Q, Pridmore AC, Mitchell TJ, Finn A, Murdoch C. (2011) Pneumolysin-induced CXCL8 production by nasopharyngeal epithelial cells is dependent on calcium flux and MAPK activation via Toll-like receptor 4. Microbes. Infect. 13(1): 65-75.