Contact information
| bradley.roberts@chch.ox.ac.uk |
Connections
-
Christ Church
College
- Clarendon Scholars Fund Funding Body
- The American Friends of Christ Church Funding Body
- Parkinson's UK DPhil Project Funding
- St. Mary's College of Maryland Undergradaute Institution
- Cragg Group Research Group
Bradley Roberts
BA(Hons) Neuroscience & Biology, St. Mary's College of Maryland, USA
Postgraduate Student
Education & Training
Before joining the Cragg Group in October 2016, I studied at St. Mary’s College of Maryland reading for a BA(Hons) in Neuroscience and Biology. During this time, I undertook a research position in the laboratory of Aileen Bailey investigating the role of orexin in the basal forebrain on cognitive flexibility. For my undergraduate dissertation, I collaborated with the laboratory of Brian Mathur at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. My dissertation focused on targeting striatal fast-spiking interneurons in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease using an in vivo optogenetic approach. Upon graduating, I returned to Brian's lab as a postbaccalaureate research assistant where I investigated the role of striatal fast-spiking interneurons in encoding action velocity dynamics using microendoscopic in vivo calcium imaging technologies.
Research Techniques
In vivo calcium imaging of genetically defined neuronal populations using miniature fluorescence microscopes
Whole cell patch-clamp electrophysiology
Ex vivo Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry
In vivo and ex vivo optogenetics and chemogenetics
Neuronal micro- and macro-circuit mapping
Motor cortex innervation of the dorsolateral striatum. Image courtesy of the Mouse Connectome Project.
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Ethanol Disinhibits Dorsolateral Striatal Medium Spiny Neurons Through Activation of A Presynaptic Delta Opioid Receptor
Patton MH. et al, (2016), Neuropsychopharmacology, 41, 1831 - 1840
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Illuminating the Undergraduate Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory: A Guide for the in vivo Application of Optogenetics in Mammalian Model Organisms
Roberts BM. et al, (2016), The Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education
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High concentrations of L-ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) induces apoptosis in a human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) through the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways
Roberts BM. et al, (2015), BIOS, 86, 134 - 143
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Orexin receptor activity in the basal forebrain alters performance on an olfactory discrimination task
Piantadosi PT. et al, (2015), Brain Research, 1594, 215 - 222
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Mammary carcinoma in a male rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) : histopathology and immunohistochemistry of ductal carcinoma in situ
Roberts BM. et al, (2014), Journal of Medical Primatology, 43, 213 - 216
Research Interests
I am broadly interested in how striatal microcircuits encode for action learning, selection and refinement. For my DPhil project at The University of Oxford, I am working to elucidate how nigrostriatal co-transmission of GABA from dopaminergic afferents regulates striatal microcircuitry and therefore striatal output under regular physiological conditions and in Parkinson's disease. To answer these questions I am utilizing optogenetic, fast-scan cyclic voltammetry and electrophysiological techniques. As to understand how a progressive denervation of striatal Dopamine and GABA release may affect striatal microcircuitry function, I am using an α-synuclein overexpressing transgenic mouse model of parkinsonism, developed collaboratively here at the Oxford Parkinson's Disease Center (OPDC; www.opdc.ox.ac.uk).