Steve Winder

Professor of Molecular Cell Biology

United Kingdom

Steve Winder is a Professor of Molecular Cell Biology in the Department of Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield. As a postdoctoral fellow at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, Steve initially carried out research into the structure and functions of dystrophin and utrophin, mapping spectrin repeat phasing and identifying new functional regions such as the ZZ domain. Since establishing his own research group he has worked extensively on the functions and cell biology of dystroglycan in both muscle and non-muscle tissues. This led to the identification and characterisation of a crucial tyrosine phosphorylation event in dystroglycan responsible for the degradation of the protein. This finding provided a potential therapeutic avenue, and Steve’s research direction has since taken a more translational approach. He has used both zebrafish and mouse models of DMD to find novel therapeutic approaches to treat DMD by inhibiting dystroglycan phosphorylation. This has involved taking both a repurposing strategy to investigate the efficacy of certain anti-cancer inhibitor drugs in DMD, and also using natural products derived from soy as potential therapies.