Research Groups and Interests

Researchers in the Neuroscience Group have specific interests in the following areas:

Autonomic Neuroscience

Research in this area is concentrated on the neural network in the brain that controls the autonomic and cardiovascular changes associated with stress and emotions. More>>

Comparative Neuroscience

Research which focuses on the evolutionary differences of Monotreme (echidna and platypus), Marsupial (wallabies etc.) and Eutherian (non-primate: mice, rat and cat, and primate: marmosets, macaques and humans) brains. More>>

Membrane Biophysics

This research is investigating how the molecular structure of glycine receptor-channels and cyclic-nucleotide-gated channels relate to their functional properties, using patch-clamp recordings and site-directed mutagenesis. More>>

Neural Injury and Repair

This area focuses on basic research in clinically relevant areas of neural injury. There is much current interest in the possibility of repair of the damaged spinal cord and researchers in the School are investigating strategies to support regeneration of damaged axons. More>>

Neurodevelopment & Neurodegeneration

The major investigations in neurodevelopment focus on developmental neurobiology with emphasis on teratogens in the developing brain, while those in neurodegeneration focus on the clinicopathological correlations and pathological progression of Parkinsonism. More>>

Neuroinformatics

Research which involves the production of online mammalian brain atlases as well as a database of referenced neuroscientific information.

Neuropathic Pain

Nerve damage and its role in inflammation and pain. More>>

Neuropeptides and Receptors

We are investigating mechanisms of contraction, and the location and characteristics of tachykinin, neurotensin, muscarinic and vanilloid receptors, in human intestine and bladder, in health and disease. Another project is focussed on tachykinin receptors in non-mammals (amphibia, fish). More>>

Neuropharmacology

The major project in this area focuses on chemicals which may limit damage to brain cells after a stroke and ways to enhance endogenous neuroprotective mechanisms for the treatment of a range of brain diseases such as stroke, epilepsy, and AIDS-related dementia.

Enjoyable Gut Neuroscience

Our research focuses on the enteric nervous system and on the roles played by ATP and serotonin (5-HT) in neurotransmission and sensory transduction. We use electrophysiological and electrochemical methods to investigate the neuronal basis of gastrointestinal diseases. More>>

Sensory Neuroscience

Current research focuses on:

• Visual physiology and the study of synaptic mechanisms in information flow and integration.
• Human motor control, particularly how the CNS is reorganised as a consequence of motor learning and exercise. More>>
• Tactile and Kinaesthetic Mechanisms. More>>

Neuropathology

Brain function in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. This group studies cognitive and CNS problems that occur in muscular dystrophy as a consequence of the absence or mutation of brain isoforms of the dystrophin protein.