Dr Amy Naylor PhD, MSc, BSc

Amy Naylor

Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Associate Professor
Deputy Theme Lead for Rheumatology

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 371 3266
Email
a.naylor@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Rheumatology Research Group
Department of Inflammation and Ageing
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Naylor’s research group studies the bone remodelling process to identify aspects that can be targeted therapeutically to reverse the bone loss that occurs because of inflammation and ageing, both of which represent a significant clinical burden in terms of cost and patient quality of life.

To make a positive impact in reducing and replacing animal models as part of our commitment to the practice of the 3Rs, we actively collaborate with chemical and tissue engineers to develop complex in vitro models that mimic the physiological microenvironment, something that is currently lacking in the field of bone research. To this core research we are adding systems biology approaches (transcript and protein expression profiling and metabolomics) to further enhance our modelling and mechanistic understanding of the cellular, tissue and whole organism phenotypes that we encounter, with clear translational potential.

Amy has received grant funding from Versus Arthritis (in the form of Foundation and Career Development Fellowships), AstraZeneca, the EPSRC, Wellcome Trust, MRC, NC3Rs and the Chernajovsky Foundation amongst others.

Qualifications

  • PhD, Rheumatology (Oliver Bird Foundation): University of Newcastle, 2008
  • MRes, Medical and Molecular Biosciences: University of Newcastle, 2005
  • BSc (Hons International), Biology: University of Leeds, 2004

Biography

Amy Naylor completed an MSc and PhD in the Musculoskeletal Research Group at the University of Newcastle as part of the Oliver Bird Rheumatism Scheme.

She moved to the University of Birmingham to work for Professor Chris Buckley and was awarded a Foundation Fellowship from Arthritis Research UK to investigate the role of stromal cell-specific markers in inflammation and repair. Since completing the fellowship, she has remained at the University of Birmingham in the Department of Inflammation and Ageing and in 2018 was awarded a prestigious 5-year Career Development Fellowship from Versus Arthritis. She now leads a research team focussed on the effect of inflammation and ageing on bone formation and turnover.

Teaching

Postgraduate

  • 2018 to date: Module lead, lecturer and small group tutor, Immunology and Immunotherapy MSc – Inflammation and Cell Migration module

Undergraduate

  • 2012 to date: Tutor, Research taster - MBChB
  • 2013 to date: Lecturer and small group tutor, Intercalated BMedSci - Rheumatology and Orthopaedics module
  • 2019 to date: Lecturer and small group tutor, MPharm - Health, Disease and Therapeutics module
  • 2020 to date: Lecturer, BMedSc - Immunity and Inflammatory Disease

Research projects

Previous summer student, undergraduate student and MSc student research projects include:

  • Developing an analysis assay to assess ossification rate in an organotypic model of the bone remodelling process
  • Using Avizo software to analyse synchrotron-generated super high resolution 3D images of bone
  • In vitro manipulation of a novel endothelial cell-osteoblast interaction
  • The role of the CLEC14A-MMRN2-CD248 mechanism in bone formation: A potential therapeutic target
  • Establishing the role of CD248 in influencing PDGF signalling during angiogenesis
  • The role of CD248 in mesenchymal stem cell differentiation into adipocytes
  • Establishing the role of CD248 in angiogenesis in skeletal muscle
  • Characterising the role of the CD248-MMRN2-CLEC14A protein complex in bone formation
  • Assessing the role of CD248 in the ageing bone

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Naylor currently supervises doctoral researchers undertaking the following projects:

  • An organotypic model of the bone remodelling process
  • Targeting the novel CD248-MMRN2-CLEC14A signalling pathway in age-related bone loss
  • The ageing bone – a novel peptide as an inducer of bone repair
  • Formulation of a novel suspending medium for immobilised culture and tissue processing
  • Characterising the therapeutic potential of a novel peptide in age-related bone loss, skeletal remodelling and repair
  • Development of 3D cell cultures for synthetic bone models

Research

Research themes

Bone remodelling in inflammation and ageing, stromal cell differentiation and migration, stromal cell-osteoclast interactions.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Lewis, JW, Frost, K, Neag, G, Adams, H, Powell, E, Gallagher, O, Bellantuono, I, Naylor, AJ & McGettrick, HM 2025, 'Protocol for assessing the structural architecture, integrity, and cellular composition of murine bone ex vivo', STAR Protocols, vol. 6, no. 2, 103843. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2025.103843

Finlay, M, Hill, LA, Neag, G, Patel, B, Chipara, M, Lamont, HC, Frost, K, Patrick, K, Lewis, JW, Nicholson, T, Edwards, J, Jones, SW, Grover, LM & Naylor, AJ 2024, 'A detailed methodology for the long-term in vitro culture and analysis of three-dimensional, self-structuring bone models generated from cell lines or primary osteoblastic cell populations [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 3 approved with reservations]', F1000Research, vol. 12, 357. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.130779.2

Lewis, JW, Frost, K, Neag, G, Wahid, M, Finlay, M, Northall, E, Abudu, O, Davis, E, Powell, E, Palmer, C, Lu, J, Rainger, E, Iqbal, A, Chimen, M, Mahmood, A, Jones, S, Edwards, J, Naylor, A & McGettrick, H 2024, 'Therapeutic avenues in bone repair: Harnessing an anabolic osteopeptide, PEPITEM, to boost bone growth and prevent bone loss', Cell Reports Medicine, vol. 5, no. 5, 101574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101574

Frost, K, Lewis, JW, Jones, SW, Edwards, JR, Naylor, AJ & McGettrick, HM 2024, 'The Species Effect: Differential Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Responses in the Bone in Human Versus Mouse', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 25, no. 10, 5118. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25105118

Neag, G, Lewis, J, Turner, J, Manning, J, Dean, I, Finlay, M, Poologasundarampillai, G, Woods, J, Arham Sahu, M, Khan, KA, Begum, J, McGettrick, H, Bellantuono, I, Heath, V, Jones, S, Buckley, C, Bicknell, R & Naylor, A 2024, 'Type-H endothelial cell protein Clec14a orchestrates osteoblast activity during trabecular bone formation and patterning', Communications Biology, vol. 7, 1296. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06971-3

Patrick, K, Tian, X, Cartwright, D, Heising, S, Glover, MS, Northall, EN, Cazares, L, Hess, S, Baker, D, Church, C, Davies, G, Lavery, G & Naylor, AJ 2023, 'Sex-specific effects of CD248 on metabolism and the adipose tissue lipidome', PLoS ONE, vol. 18, no. 4, e0284012. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284012

Fenton, CG, Crastin, A, Martin, CS, Suresh, S, Montagna, I, Hussain, B, Naylor, AJ, Jones, SW, Hansen, MS, Gorvin, CM, Price, M, Filer, A, Cooper, MS, Lavery, GG, Raza, K & Hardy, RS 2022, '11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 within osteoclasts mediates the bone protective properties of therapeutic corticosteroids in chronic inflammation', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 23, no. 13, 7334, pp. 7334. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23137334

Moakes, R, Senior, JJ, Robinson, T, Chipara, M, Naylor, A, Metcalfe, T, Smith, AM & Grover, L 2021, 'A suspended layer additive manufacturing approach to the bioprinting of tri-layered skin equivalents', APL Bioengineering, vol. 5, no. 4, 046103 . https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0061361

Tokudome, Y, Poologasundarampillai, G, Tashibana, K, Murata, H, Naylor, A, Yoneyama, A & Nakahira, A 2021, 'Curable layered double hydroxide nanoparticles-based perfusion contrast agents for X-ray computed tomography imaging of vascular structures', Advanced NanoBiomed Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/anbr.202100123

Fenton, C, Martin, C, Jones, R, Croft, A, Campos, J, Naylor, A, Taylor, A, Chimen, M, Cooper, M, Lavery, G, Raza, K & Hardy, R 2021, 'Local steroid activation is a critical mediator of the anti-inflammatory actions of therapeutic glucocorticoids', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 250-260. https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-218493

Comment/debate

Moakes, RJA, Senior, JJ, Robinson, TE, Chipara, M, Atanasov, A, Naylor, A, Metcalfe, AD, Smith, AM & Grover, LM 2023, 'Publisher's Note: “A suspended layer additive manufacturing approach to the bioprinting of tri-layered skin equivalents” [APL Bioeng. 5, 046103 (2021)]', APL Bioengineering, vol. 7, no. 2, 029901. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0151285

Editorial

Mauro, C, Naylor, AJ & Lord, JM 2022, 'Themed issue: Inflammation, repair and ageing', British Journal of Pharmacology, vol. 179, no. 9, pp. 1787-1789. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.15799

Review article

Chidomere, CI, Wahid, M, Kemble, S, Chadwick, C, Thomas, R, Hardy, RS, Mcgettrick, HM & Naylor, AJ 2023, 'Bench to Bedside: Modelling Inflammatory Arthritis', Discovery Immunology, vol. 2, no. 1, kyac010. https://doi.org/10.1093/discim/kyac010

Frost, K, Naylor, AJ & McGettrick, HM 2023, 'The Ying and Yang of Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Signalling within the Bone', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 24, no. 8, 6935. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24086935

Lewis, J, Edwards, J, Naylor, A & McGettrick, H 2021, 'Adiponectin signalling in bone homeostasis, with age and in disease', Bone Research, vol. 9, 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41413-020-00122-0

View all publications in research portal