David B Sattelle studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge where he was awarded a BA degree (1967), PhD (1971) and ScD (1990). He carried out postdoctoral research at Harvard University, MIT, UMass and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass, USA. He was a member of the AFRC Unit of Invertebrate Chemistry and Physiology in Cambridge and a project leader in the BBSRC Laboratory of Molecular Signalling in Cambridge (1990-1999). As a Fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge, he directed studies in Biological Sciences. Since 1999, he has led the Neural Signalling Laboratory in the MRC Functional Genomics Unit. He is currently Professor of Molecular Neurobiology, University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford.

Professor Sattelle’s research has two main aims: (a) to identify the diverse functions of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and to investigate their roles in nervous system / neuromuscular diseases and as drug targets; (b) to generate and study invertebrate (Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster) models of human neurodegenerative diseases. Work in progress includes the roles of nAChRs in genetic disorders (congenital myasthenia syndrome, CMS), autoimmune disorders (Rasmussen’s encephalitis) and as targets for novel drugs being developed to ameliorate the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Invertebrate models of AD and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are also being studied. Their power lies in the rapid development and testing of new hypotheses relating to disease mechanisms and the exploration of new routes to therapy. Electrophysiology, calcium imaging, genomics, genetics, molecular biology, computational modelling and proteomics are employed in these studies.

Further information can be found at Sattelle Research