After graduating from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc Honours degree in Pharmacology, I was appointed as a pharmacologist with Glaxo Laboratories in Greenford and subsequently at Syntex Research Centre in Edinburgh before taking a career break to raise my family.  I joined the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in 1991 and obtained an MSc by research, University of Aberdeen, in 1996.

Research Interests:

My main research aim is to investigate the physical and biochemical responses of articular cartilage chondrocytes to mechanical loads in an attempt to understand the effect of trauma on human joints, and how this can lead to the development of secondary osteoarthrirtis.

The biophysical effects of a single impact load on human and bovine articular cartilage
J E Jeffrey and R M Aspden
Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine (2006) 220, 677-686


Increased synthesis of prostaglandin E 2 by articular catilage chondrocytes following a single impact load in vitro
J E Jeffrey and R M Aspden
Osteoarthritis and Cartilage (2005) 13, Supplement A, S106
(10 th World Congress of Osteoarthritis Research Society International, Boston)

The role of the proteolytic enzyme, cathepsin B, in articular cartilage degradation following an impact load
J E Jeffrey, L L M Li, R M Aspden
Osteoarthritis and Cartilage (2004) 12, Supplement B, S48
(9 th World Congress of Osteoarthritis Research Society International, Chicago)

Chondrocyte apoptosis in human articular cartilage following an impact load
K A Bennett, J E Jeffrey, R M Aspden
Osteoarthritis and Cartilage (2003) 11, Supplement 1, S17
(8 th World Congress of Osteoarthritis Research Society International, Berlin)


Antenatal factors in the development of the lumbar vertebral canal: A magnetic resonance imaging study
J E Jeffrey , D M Campbell, M H N Golden, F W Smith and R W Porter
Spine (2003) 28 , 1418-1423


Failure of human and bovine articular cartilage subjected to impact loading
J E Jeffrey, L V Burgin, D Marshall, R M Aspden
International Journal of Experimental Pathology (2003) 84, A52
(British Society for Matrix Biology, University of Oxford)

Letter to the Editor
R M Aspden, J E Jeffrey and L V Burgin
Osteoarthritis & Cartilage (2002) 10 , 588-589


Matrix loss and synthesis following a single impact load on articular cartilage in vitro
J E Jeffrey, L A Thomson and R M Aspden
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (1997) 1334 , 223-232


The physical and biochemical response of articular cartilage to a single impact load in vitro
J E Jeffrey
MSc Thesis . University of Aberdeen (1996)

Matrix damage and chondrocyte viability following a single impact load on articular cartilage
J E Jeffrey, D W Gregory and R M Aspden
Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics (1995) 322 , 87-96