Maggie Cusack

Maggie Cusack is Professor of Biomineralisation at the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow.Her central research focuses on biominerals (shells, corals and bones.)

Cusack initially studied cell biology and did her doctoral thesis on protein biochemistry, however she is better known as a pioneer of geoscience in applying her discoveries about living organisms to advance out understanding of fossils which allows a more accurate and reliable record of climate change.

Specifically, her research interests include determining the influence of ocean acidification on marine microbial photosynthesises, biometrics and biominerals in the realm of materials, bone therapies and stem cells. Some of the analytical approaches she employs include scanning electron microscopy; electron backscatter diffraction, synchrotron analyses and stable isotope measurements. Cusack’s work has implications not only in that field but in the modern era too, in developing new synthetic materials for use in medicine, engineering and construction.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

• Fitzer, S., Chung, P., Maccherozzi, F., Dhesi, S. S., Kamenos, N. A., Phoenix, V. R., and Cusack, M. (2016) Biomineral shell formation under ocean acidification: a shift from order to chaos. Scientific Reports, 6, 21076. (doi:10.1038/srep21076) (PMID 26876022) (PMC 4753494)
• Fitzer, S. C., Vittert, L., Bowman, A., Kamenos, N. A., Phoenix, V. R., and Cusack, M. (2015) Ocean acidification and temperature increase impacts mussel shell shape and thickness: problematic for protection? Ecology and Evolution, 5(21), pp. 4875–4884. (doi:10.1002/ece3.1756)
• Freer, A., Bridgett, S., Jiang, J., and Cusack, M. (2014) Biomineral proteins from Mytilus edulis mantle tissue transcriptome. Marine Biotechnology, 16(1), pp. 34–45. (doi:10.1007/s10126-013-9516-1)
• Sommerdijk, N. A. J. M., and Cusack, M. (2014) Biomineralization: crystals competing for space. Nature Materials, 13(12), pp. 1078–1079. (doi:10.1038/nmat4147)