Cookies on this website
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Continue' we will assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you will not see this message again. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Cragg Group

Monoamine transmission: from mechanisms to movement

Dopamine neurons and dendrites in SN and VTA

The neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain is critical to how we choose our everyday actions, by signaling our motivations and selecting appropriate movements. When dopamine function is disrupted, a range of psychomotor disorders can result that include addiction disorders and Parkinson’s disease.

Our work explores how dopamine function is governed and dysregulated through study of dopamine transmission in real-time.

In a range of parallel and intersecting projects, we are exploring:

  • Mechanisms on dopamine axons that govern dopamine output
  • Circuits that govern dopamine transmission
  • Dopamine signalling dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease
  • How drugs of addiction modify dopamine signals
  • How dopamine controls behaviour

Please get in touch if you’d like to find out how to join the lab.

 

Cragg Group Announcements

November 2021 - we are currently recruiting for a Post-doctoral Research Scientist, a graduate Research Assistant and a PhD Project Manager funded by ASAP.

See links for more information and how to apply. Please get in touch!

 

October 2021 - Welcome to new lab members Callum Sumpter, Bethan O'Connor, Shinil Raina, and returning member Lucille Duquenoy!

 

Please read our pledge to support inclusivity, diversity and equality here.

Our team

Navigation

Selected publications

Cragg Group News

Mapping uncharted networks in the progression of Parkinson’s

A major new $9 million project funded by the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative will map the original circuits vulnerable to Parkinson’s on an unprecedented scale. The project is a collaboration between core investigators Stephanie Cragg, Richard Wade-Martins, and Peter Magill at Oxford, Mark Howe at Boston University and Dinos Meletis at the Karolinska Institutet, as well as collaborators Yulong Li at Peking University and Michael Lin at Stanford University.

Bridging the gap between basic research and people with Parkinson's

Striatal immunofluorescence signals for astrocyte marker S100β and neuronal marker NeuN

Sites of early dysfunction in Parkinson's identified

A new collaborative study from the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre led by Prof Stephanie Cragg and Dr Bradley Roberts has revealed that GABA transporters on astrocytes, the brain's lesser known yet critically important cells, support dopamine release and are sites of early dysfunction in parkinsonism.

More news

Dopamine Club

Welcome to the Dopamine Club!

Dopamine Club is an informal, lab meeting-style forum that brings dopamine researchers together from across the University to exchange and discuss our different perspectives on dopamine.

About us

Dopamine Club was founded in 2014 to bring together dopamine researchers within the University and promote interactions towards the common goal of understanding dopamine function.

Core contributors

Anyone is welcome to attend, organise and participate in Dopamine Club meetings and we'd like it to be as interactive as possible so if you want to be involved please get in touch (stephanie.cragg@dpag.ox.ac.uk, or any of the other contributing groups).

Meeting format

Meetings are held termly, usually on Monday of 8th week, in DPAG. Meetings are chaired by different labs on a rotating basis.

Forthcoming meetings

Video Abstract

Pauses in Cholinergic Interneuron Activity Are Driven by Excitatory Input and Delayed Rectification With Dopamine Modulation

Related research themes

We host a number of internationally recognised neuroscience groups, with expertise in a wide range of experimental and computational methods.
Neuroscience

We host a number of internationally recognised ...