Seminars
Wednesday 17th October 2007
(Anatomy Lecture Theatre, Whitechapel)
Programme:
- 5-5.20pm "The chemistry of the brain: explorations through time and space.". By Prof Maurice Elphick
- 5.20-5.30pm Discussion
- 5.30-5.50pm "The Pull of Food: nutrient and mechano-transduction in the intestinal gene regulation". By Prof Ian Sanderson
- 5.50-6pm Discussion
- 6-7pm Refreshments in the Nucleus Café
Speakers:
Prof Maurice Elphick
Professor of Physiology &Neuroscience, Biological and Chemical Sciences
Research interests:
One of the great challenges for science in the 21 st century will be to determine how the DNA "language" of the genome gives rise to biological "machines" (humans and other animals) that are capable of extraordinarily complex behaviour. Pivotal in this endeavour will be the analysis of nervous systems, which co-ordinate whole-animal behaviour. My particular interest is in the evolution and functions of chemical signalling systems that mediate communication between neurons and other cell types and which are targets for many of the drugs used to treat disorders of the nervous system. Research in my lab is focused in three areas:
1. Endocannabinoid signalling: this system was discovered as a target for the drug cannabis and is involved in regulation of numerous physiological processes. My lab is investigating the functional neuroarchitecture and evolution of the endocannabinoid signalling system. My lab was the first to predict that endocannabinoids mediate retrograde ("backwards") communication at synapses in the brain and in 2003 we reported the identification of the first cannabinoid receptor gene to be discovered in an invertebrate.
2. Neuropeptide signalling: my lab is investigating neuropeptide structure and function in echinoderms (e.g. starfish, sea urchins); these animals are of particular interest because they do not have a centralised nervous system (“brain”).
3. Nitric oxide signalling: the discovery that the gas NO is a neural signalling molecule in humans and other animals was one of the most important discoveries in neurobiology in the 1990s; my lab has pioneered research on NO function in invertebrate nervous system
Email contact: m.r.elphick@qmul.ac.uk
Prof Ian Sanderson
Centre Lead - Professor of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science
Ian Sanderson first became interested in the intestine as a graduate student under Dr Dennis Parsons in Oxford where he examined the exit of absorbed amino acids from the enterocyte. After finishing his medical studies he worked as a house officer to Dr Anthony Dawson and trained as a paediatrician at the Hospitals for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street . He was the CICRA Clinical Research Fellow at St Bartholomew's Hospital with Dr John Walker-Smith where he demonstrated that an elemental diet was as effective as high dose steroids in children with Crohn's disease. He also showed that those taking the enteral feeds grew faster. After completing his training as a paediatrician and paediatric gastroenterologist, Professor Sanderson moved to Harvard Medical School as a Fulbright Scholar in Dr Allan Walker's department. He became Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Developmental Gastroenterology Laboratory at the Harvard Clinical Nutrition Research Centre. He developed the concept that luminal factors regulate genes in the epithelium that signal to the mucosal immune system. By this means, changes in diet can act through enterocytes altering inflammatory mechanisms in the intestine. Professor Sanderson was awarded the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of American Silver Jubilee award for his work in childhood Crohn's disease and the Norman Kretchmer Award in Nutrition and Development for his work on the affect of diet on genes in the developing intestine. His current laboratory in London examines how dietary factors act on genes in the epithelium both through promoter-based mechanisms and through changes in chromosomal structure.
Email contact:
