Alastair's research is multi-disciplinary and in the broad field of mineralised connective tissues. He is interested in the reparative potential and behaviour of the dentine-pulp complex and bone, specifically the potential therapeutic manipulation of the dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) and the cellular and molecular responses of these cells to natural biomatrices and compromised biological environments to understand their functional behaviour during tissue injury. Complimentary to this work he is also interested understanding the heterogeneity within dental pulp progenitor populations and their function in 3D environments in vitro. In addition, he is interested in the potential therapeutic roles of these DPSCs in the wider context of regenerative biology.

His research is also focused on understanding the dentinogenic and osteoinductive properties of dentine and bone matrices to facilitate novel tissue engineering methodologies and natural regenerative processes and is related to the development of novel clinical therapies and methods in relation to dentistry and orthopaedics regarding tissue regeneration and repair. Directly related to this, his research is also focused on understanding bacterial invasion and attachment in dental and bone infections and development of novel antimicrobial carriers / restorative materials for clinical endodontics and orthopaedics. His group have established liposomal nanocarriers for antimicrobial delivery and prototype restorative materials and model systems to better understand the nature of the bacterial / pulp environment during pulpal infection. He also has a long standing interest in developing novel in vitro / ex vivo organ 3D culture model systems for mineralising tissues to provide innovative models for tissue regeneration/engineering and testing of novel therapeutic agents and advancing the 3Rs (reduction, replacement refinement) in biomedical research and bioengineering.