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Jeff Dixon

Dr. Jeff Dixon is a Professor in the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology and Division of Oral Biology, Director of the CIHR Group in Skeletal Development and Remodeling, and Assistant Director – Research (Dentistry) within the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. He also serves as Co-Director of the multicentre Joint Motion Program - a CIHR Training Program in Musculoskeletal Health Research and Leadership.

Dixon’s research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the formation and destruction of bone and cartilage. He studies the function and regulation of osteoblasts (bone forming cells), chondrocytes (cartilage forming cells) and osteoclasts (bone resorbing cells). Bone loss in inflammatory diseases (such as periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis) and metabolic diseases (such as osteoporosis) arises from imbalance between the rates of bone formation and resorption. Therefore, goals are to understand the physiological regulation of these processes and to identify therapeutic agents that inhibit loss of bone and cartilage. Cell behavior is investigated using a variety of approaches, including fluorescence spectrophotometry, patch-clamp electrophysiology, microphysiometry, live-cell imaging and molecular biology.

Dixon is a member of the editorial board of the journals Purinergic Signalling and Bone. He is immediate past-president of the Canadian Association for Dental Research and has served as member, scientific officer and chair of several committees for the CIHR. Within the Canadian Arthritis Network, Dixon served previously as co-leader of the theme entitled Cellular and molecular biology of joint tissues and Chair of the Training and Education Committee. Dixon was the recipient of the 2005 Quality of Life Research Award - Bone Category from the CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA).