William Querido: Mapping the Molecular Foundations of Bone and Tooth Health
When we think of bones, we often imagine rigid structures that form the scaffold of our skeleton; and while this is true, bones are also a dynamic tissue that determine and reflect many aspects of our health. When William Querido, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, studies bone, he sees beyond their rigid structure into a complex architectural masterpiece composed of microscopic bricks and mortar, where the interplay between organic and inorganic elements reveals much about our health.
Querido joined the faculty in fall 2024 after eight years at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA; first as a postdoctoral fellow, then as a research assistant professor. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, his academic journey has taken him from South America to France and now to Hoboken, where he is setting up a new lab dedicated to understanding the inner workings of mineralized tissues like bones and teeth.
His primary focus: deciphering the molecular and chemical signatures of these tissues in both health and disease. “When you imagine a bone or a tooth, you can think of it like a building,” he explained. “Looking at the whole thing doesn’t tell you if the bricks and cement are any good. If they’re poor quality, the structure can fail. It’s the same with tissue — we need to understand the quality of its building blocks.”
Querido specializes in infrared spectroscopy and hyperspectral imaging — advanced techniques that allow scientists to assess the chemical quality of collagen and minerals at the molecular level. While current diagnostic tools like X-rays reveal how much bone is present, they don’t show whether that bone is strong or structurally sound. “My goal is to improve diagnostics by going deeper — beyond quantity, to look at tissue-level quality,” he said. “How good is collagen integrity? How is mineral composition and nanostructure? These are the questions that matter when it comes to fracture risk or dental erosion.”
His work has broad implications, from osteoporosis and dental disease to broader insights about pathological mineralization, such as arterial plaque buildup. Much of his first year at Stevens has been spent developing grant proposals and launching new projects that apply his imaging methods to real-world biomedical challenges.
Querido’s fascination with biomineralization began during early lab work with bone cells. “We were growing cells in a dish and watching as they formed a mineralized matrix — it was amazing,” he recalled. “The way organic and inorganic materials — collagen and calcium phosphate — came together to build a structure was just fascinating.”
The biological significance runs deep. Biomineralization, Querido explained, is an ancient evolutionary strategy found across multiple kingdoms of life, from sea sponges and bacteria to humans. “It’s about survival,” he said. “The ability to protect vital organs, to store and regulate ions like calcium — it was a game-changer in evolution.”
In humans, collagen plays a critical role. “It’s the scaffold where mineralization happens,” he said. “In bone, about 60% is mineral, 30% is collagen, and the rest is water. The collagen provides the structure, and the mineral fills in very precisely, even at the nanoscale.” Disruptions to that process, whether from disease, aging, or hormonal imbalance, can weaken tissue integrity in profound ways.
Querido is also intrigued by how the body’s mineral balance reflects and affects broader health. “Conditions that disrupt the endocrine system can impair collagen quality and make bones more fragile,” he said. “And there’s emerging interest in whether we can assess bone quality by measuring collagen in the skin, which would be far less invasive than a bone biopsy.”
His recent work, published in Calcified Tissue International in 2025, examined cadaver femurs and demonstrated a significant link between bone water content and mechanical function. By using both Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and near-infrared spectroscopy, his team found that increased bone tissue-level water was inversely related to bone stiffness — highlighting a promising new biomarker for fragility fractures that traditional imaging might miss.
In another 2024 study published in Journal of Structural Biology: X, Querido and collaborators used a mouse model of bone fragility and advanced spectral imaging combined with machine learning to analyze how bone composition can inform and predict fracture risk, paving the way for improved diagnostics of bone disease.
He also led a 2020 study published in Analyst, establishing a new infrared spectroscopy approach to track bone mineral formation and providing clear evidence that the process begins with a transient amorphous phase before maturing into stable crystals — contributing to a growing body of work at the intersection of developmental biology and materials science.
Ultimately, Querido sees his work as a path toward better health outcomes through deeper understanding. “We want to understand disease more deeply and develop better ways to study it,” he said. “If we can pinpoint what’s breaking down at the molecular level, we can design more effective diagnostics, and eventually better treatments.”
One of his favorite quotes, from A Shadow Passes, reflects his approach to research: “The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” Querido is driven by an endless curiosity and to hone his skill towards those magical things which lie hidden in our skeleton — waiting to be discovered, one molecule and mineral at a time.
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