Biography

I studied at the University of Queensland in Brisbane Australia. I received my PhD in 2008 on the role of the hedgehog pathway during limb patterning and chondrogenesis.

I moved to London in 2009 for a post-doc with Malcolm Logan at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill. This was on limb identity and forelimb/hindlimb specification. Work here focused on the role of the transcription factor Pitx1 in hindlimb skeletal patterning and specification.

I moved to Imperial College in 2014 to the Molecular Endocrinology lab of Graham Williams and Duncan Bassett. Here I work on the endocrinology of bone and cartilage diseases, as well as using unusual model systems to study bone turnover (such as the Japanese quail). My main research interest is the genetics of osteoarthritis and other joint diseases. I head the cartilage phenotyping pipeline for the Origins of Bone and Cartilage Disease project (OBCD). OBCD was established to phenotype large numbers of single-gene knockout mice for bone and cartilage disorders. To this end, I have developed and am utilising cutting-edge imaging methods to determining the genetics of joint diseases.

List of 5 Best Publications

• Natalie C Butterfield 1 , Katherine F Curry 1 , Julia Steinberg 2 3 4 , Hannah Dewhurst 1 , Davide Komla-Ebri 1 , Naila S Mannan 1 , Anne-Tounsia Adoum 1 , Victoria D Leitch 1 , John G Logan 1 , Julian A Waung 1 , Elena Ghirardello 1 , Lorraine Southam 2 3 , Scott E Youlten 5 , J Mark Wilkinson 6 7 , Elizabeth A McAninch 8 , Valerie E Vancollie 3 , Fiona Kussy 3 , Jacqueline K White 3 9 , Christopher J Lelliott 3 , David J Adams 3 , Richard Jacques 10 , Antonio C Bianco 11 , Alan Boyde 12 , Eleftheria Zeggini 2 3 , Peter I Croucher 5 , Graham R Williams # 13 , J H Duncan Bassett # 14https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33473114/
• Natalie C Butterfield 1 , Chen Qian 2 , Malcolm P O Logan 1https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28746404/
• Natalie C Butterfield 1 , John G Logan 1 , Julian Waung 1 , Graham R Williams 2 , J H Duncan Bassett 1https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30729486/
• Natalie C Butterfield 1 , Vicki Metzis, Edwina McGlinn, Stephen J Bruce, Brandon J Wainwright, Carol Wickinghttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19783740/

STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES AT WORK

- Areas Of Expertise: Endocrinology, Genetics, Imaging, In Vivo Models, and Osteoarthritis

- Favorite Cell: Chondrocyte

- Favorite Protein: Sonic Hedgehog

- Best technical skill: Electron microscopy

- Best knowledge: Cartilage development and 80s hair rock

- Hated technique: Cryosectioning

- Research goal: To find the genetic determinants of osteoarthritis with a view to developing treatments and finding a cure.

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PERSONAL STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES

- Favorite dish: Carbohydrates

- Favorite place to live: Somewhere near the ocean.

- Best sport skill: Running a very long way, very slowly.

- Worst performance: Anything with a ball.

- Free time activity: Scampering along trails in the sun and sitting in theatres in the dark.

- Favorite quote: Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep – He waits.