In the 2022 Christmas Lectures from the Royal Institution, DPAG's Visiting Professor of Forensic Anatomy Dame Sue Black will share secrets of forensic science.
Swietach Group scientists have identified a rescue mechanism that allows cancers to overcome the consequences of inactivating mutations in critically important genes.
Congratulations are in order for Professors Randy Bruno and Scott Waddell who have each been awarded a prestigious Wellcome Trust Discovery Award to significantly enhance our understanding of higher cognitive functions.
DPAG\u2019s auditory neuroscience researchers have found that the auditory system adapts to the changing acoustics of reverberant environments by temporally shifting the inhibitory tuning of cortical neurons to remove reverberation.
The Molecular Flow Sensor Team, with collaborating members principally from DPAG\u2019s Robbins and Talbot groups and the Department of Chemistry, has been named the winner of the Royal Society of Chemistry\u2019s (RSC) Analytical Division Horizon Prize for the development of a new technology for measuring lung function.
A collaborative research team led by the Oxford Parkinson\u2019s Disease Centre (OPDC) has been awarded a \u00a33.8 million Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award to study the function of calcium in dopamine neurons, and how this is plays a role in Parkinson\u2019s. Their research will help explain how and why dopamine neurons are vulnerable in the disease and look at how they may be preserved.
Research led by Dr Alzbeta Hulikova and Professor Pawel Swietach has, for the first time, described the potential regulation of nuclear acid-base chemistry in neonatal and adult cardiomyocytes, and explained its relevance in the context of heart physiology and pathology.
Phantom percepts, such as subjective tinnitus, are driven by fundamental changes in spontaneous brain activity. Sleep is a natural example of major shifts in spontaneous brain activity and perceptual state, suggesting an interaction between sleep and tinnitus that has so far been little considered. In a new collaborative review article from DPAG\u2019s auditory and sleep neuroscientists, tinnitus and sleep research is brought together for the first time, and, in conclusion, they propose a fundamental relationship between natural brain dynamics and the expression and pathogenesis of tinnitus.
A new Klemm Lab-led paper has uncovered a new mechanism involving the endoplasmic reticulum that is critical to the organisation and position of the microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton, which ultimately dictates the shape and function of our body\u2019s cells.
A new DPAG-led review paper, published in the journal Brain, has shown that a poorly understood region of the brain called the claustrum may play an important role in how we experience pain.
A new Novo Nordisk project paper has uncovered the role of ACC1 enzyme in the regulation of glucagon secretion for the first time. This raises the prospect of a potential new therapeutic target in the context of type 2 diabetes and metabolic disorders characterised by hyperglycaemia.
Congratulations are in order for Sir Henry Dale Fellow Dr Armin Lak who has been awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council. His funded project will investigate the neural circuits for learning under perceptual uncertainty.
A new paper led by Dr Johanna Michl and Professor Pawel Swietach from DPAG\u2019s Swietach Group has identified a new gene that allows cancer cells to survive in the typically acidic microenvironment of a malignant tumour. They have discovered drugs that inhibit the gene in other medical conditions also selectively kill cancer cells at acidic pH, without damaging healthy tissue. This defines a novel strategy for targeting acidic tumour regions.
A new study from Dr Yanfeng Zhang has uncovered the first evidence that dopamine-dependent long-term potentiation is also gated by the pause of striatal cholinergic interneurons and the depolarisation of the striatal spiny projection neurons. This discovery overturns previous ideas that the phasic dopamine release is the only factor gate corticostriatal synaptic plasticity, thus changing our understanding of dopamine functions in reinforcement learning.
A new paper from the Moln\u00e1r Group has shed light on substantial rewiring of corticothalamic connections that is triggered by early sensory loss during development. The study has identified a new mechanism that significantly rearranges the cortico-thalamo-cortical circuits but has not been considered before in patients with sensory loss for potential therapies.
Two projects aimed at tackling heart failure led by Associate Professor Sarah De Val and Dr Joaquim Vieira are to be funded by the 2022 TCS London Marathon with the British Heart Foundation as its Charity of the Year. The BHF\u2019s runners, who are raising \u00a33 million in funding, will include De Val Lab postdoctoral researcher Dr Alice Neal.
Congratulations to Dr Filipa Sim\u00f5es who has been awarded a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship. She will investigate how immune cells called macrophages facilitate long-lasting heart regeneration in the zebrafish and how this could be harnessed for the human heart.
A major collaborative study, in which DPAG\u2019s Dr James Grist plays a key role, involving teams in the universities of Oxford, Sheffield, Cardiff and Manchester, has identified abnormalities in the lungs of Long Covid patients who are experiencing breathlessness. Researchers are using a novel xenon gas scanning method to locate damaged areas that cannot be detected by routine scans.
Congratulations are in order for postdoctoral research scientist Dr Christoph Treiber who has been awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council. His funded project will investigate the genetic components that may contribute to diversity of brain function and behaviour.
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