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Cragg Group

Neuromodulation: molecules, mechanisms and microcircuits

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 Parkinson's disease and addiction disorders. Dopamine neurons are impressive structures, forming immense axonal arbours that present biological challenges but opportunities for diverse mechanisms to regulate dopamine function. We explore the diverse neurophysiological mechanisms and neuromodulator landscape that govern dopamine function, in order to understand how these mechanisms become dysfunctional and might be targeted for therapeutic benefit in disease.

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

  • How dopamine axon biology shapes dopamine output
  • The diverse neuromodulators and circuits that shape dopamine function
  • How astrocytes reciprocally shape the function of dopamine and related neuromodulators 
  • Interactions between striatal dopamine and acetylcholine signalling
  • Dysregulation in these circuits in Parkinson’s disease
  • How drugs of addiction modify dopamine signals and regulatory circuits

Please get in touch if you’d like to join the lab, and see any current recruitment opportunities below.

 

Cragg Group Announcements

November 2025 - Welcome to Karolinska Institutet visiting Masters student Linda Kaupp

October 2025 - Welcome to new DPhil students Prakrit Prasad and Isabella Wijsman

September 2025 - Welcome to new postdoc Tony Barbay, and masters students Mara Wuelfing and Zenden Rozenbroek

August 2025 - We delighted to announce the publication of The Handbook of Dopamine co-edited by Steph and collaborator Mark Walton!

August 2025 - Steph speaks at International Society of Neurochemistry Meeting New York City

May 2025 - Steph gives a Keynote lecture at NeuroFrance 2025

Mar 2025 - Congratulations to Shinil Raina for winning another Poster Prize, at the meeting for Aligning Science Across Parkinson's in Phoenix Arizona

Jan 2025 - Welcome to our new RA Alicia Twisselmann

Oct 2024 - Welcome to new postdoc Mark Conway and new DPhil student Walifa Waqar!

Sept 2024 - Welcome to project students Niamh Walker and Annie O'Brien!

May 2024 - Steph takes up the Presidency of the International Society for Monitoring Molecules in Neuroscience, plan to join us for Amsterdam 2026!

May 2024 - Congratulations Qinbo Qiao on being selected for an invited Podium Presentation at the International Meeting for Monitoring Molecules in Neuroscience at UNC, North Carolina

April 2024 - Congratulations Lucille Duquenoy on the Award of a Goodger and Shorstein Scholarship for 2024-2025

April 2024 - Congratulations to Kat Todd for best flash talk and Aishwarya Vedula for best poster prize at the UKDRI-ASAP meeting in London!

September 2023 - Congratulations to Shinil Raina and Emanuel Lopes for winning 1st and 2nd Poster Prizes at the meeting for Aligning Science Across Parkinson's in London

January 2023 - Congratulations Katherine Brimblecombe for a DPAG Prize for Public Engagement

September 2022 - We welcome to Oxford all of ASAP Team Cragg for our first annual in-person conference!

May 2022 - We are delighted to begin our new Wellcome Trust-funded collaboration with Profs Richard Wade-Martins, Peter Magill, Birgit Liss and Josef Kittler

November 2021 - We are delighted to begin our new major international collaborative research project supported by Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) with Mark Howe (Boston University), Dinos Meletis (Karolinska Institutet), Richard Wade-Martins (Oxford) and Peter Magill (Oxford)

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

Our team

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Selected publications

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 ...