Matlock Jeffries, M.D.
Education
Rheumatology Fellow 2014-2016, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
MD 2010, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
BS 2005, University of Oklahoma
Research Overview
My laboratory focuses on how the environment interfaces with the genome during the development and progression of the most common cause of disability in the US, osteoarthritis. We study epigenetics, which is a branch of science that deals with various chemicals and proteins which interact with genes in order to turn them on and off. We have previously shown that epigenetic patterns are significantly changed in the cartilage of OA patients as their OA progresses, and that epigenetic patterns within the bone underlying this cartilage also changes. We have also recently published a study which showed that epigenetic patterns within circulating blood cells are also changed in OA patients, and that these changes can be used to predict patients who will experience rapid OA progression compared to nonprogressive patients. Our laboratory is now interested in studying the ways in which individual OA risk factors, including obesity and aging, alter the epigenetic patterns of cartilage and circulating blood cells.
Jeffries Lab
Matlock Jeffries, M.D.
Principal Investigator
Christopher Dunn
graduate student
Madison Andrews
Internal Medicine resident
Cassandra Velasco
medical student
Cassandra Garman
laboratory technician
Jake Martin
laboratory technician
Vladislav Izda
undergraduate student, laboratory technician
Contact
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
Laboratory MC400
825 NE 13th St.
Oklahoma City OK 73104
Phone: (405) 271-7438