McKee's research focuses on mineralization of extracellular matrices in bones and teeth, in mineralization pathologies, and in other biomineralizing systems such as inner-ear otoconia and eggshells. We are investigating the role of mineral-binding small biomolecules and proteins – most notably a protein called osteopontin – and the enzymes that modify these biomolecules to influence their mineralization-regulating activities. Our studies on pathologic mineralization include work on rare bone diseases where skeletal and dental mineralization is defective (osteomalacia / odontomalacia), and bones and teeth are soft and deform. We also investigate the actions of regulatory molecules where debilitating mineral deposition occurs in soft tissues such as in the kidney (urolithiasis, kidney stones), in blood vessels (vascular calcification), and in tendon and ligament insertions (entheses). In other recent work, based on findings describing underlying mechanisms guiding mineralization, we have recently shown how chiral amino acids can be used to produce synthetic, helical chiral suprastructures of calcium carbonate mineral.