Monoamine transmission: from motivation to movement
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 dysfunction manifests, through study of how dopamine ‘synapses’ function in real-time.
In a range of parallel and intersecting projects, we are exploring:
- Mechanisms in dopamine axons that govern whether action potentials in dopamine neurons are relayed by dopamine to its targets.
- Circuits that drive dopamine transmission
- How drugs of addiction modify dopamine signals
- Deficits in dopamine signaling that precede pathology in Parkinson’s disease
- Development of novel optogenetic tools to study dopamine neurons
- How dopamine controls behaviour
Please get in touch if you’d like to find out how to join the lab.
Our team
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Stephanie Cragg
Professor of Neuroscience
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Katherine Brimblecombe
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
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Emanuel Lopes
Postgraduate Student
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Bradley Roberts
Postgraduate Student
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Sarah Threlfell
Senior Research Associate
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Yanfeng Zhang
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
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Benjamin Hunn
Postgraduate Student
Cragg group news
2017 News
Upcoming Dopamine Club meeting to be given by Prof Paul Bolam - 13th March, more details to follow
13th Feb - Call for Symposia Proposals for Monitoring Molecules in Neuroscience 2018 in Oxford is now live! Submit by March 15th 2017. http://2018.monitoringmolecules.org/http://2018.monitoringmolecules.org/propose-a-symposium/
Belated welcome to DPhil student Bradley Roberts and Pt2 student Ahmad Hneino!
Related articles
- Handbook of Basal Ganglia Structure and Function, 2nd Edition is now out!https://www.elsevier.com/books/handbook-of-basal-ganglia-structure-and-function/steiner/978-0-12-802206-1
- Article preview for Brimblecombe et al 2015 J Neurosci by Esch (2015) Substance P Exerts Compartment-Specific Effects on Striatal Dopamine Release J Neurosci 35:i http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/24/i.short
- Compendium of in Vivo Monitoring in Real-Time Molecular Neuroscience: Fundamentals and Applications v. 1 (http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/9295#t=aboutBook)
Dopamine Club
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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.
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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.
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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).
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Meeting format
Meetings are held termly, usually on Monday of 8th week, in DPAG. Meetings are chaired by different labs on a rotating basis.
