Personal Statement
I am a neuroscientist, focussed on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying disorders of the nervous system.

My research career began in Canada under the supervision of Prof Mel Robertson (Queen’s University) investigating how inducible heat shock proteins modified synaptic transmission. Following the award of my PhD, I received a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship and came to the UK to study the role of Stxbp1/Munc18 in exocytosis in the group of Prof Bob Burgoyne. Following my postdoctoral training, I was first awarded a Research Councils UK Academic Fellowship and then a lectureship to establish my own lab at the University of Liverpool.

Research Overview
My primary research interest is to understand how specific human disease mutations impact the function of the nervous system. A full understanding of the underpinning cellular/molecular pathophysiology of neurological disease is of paramount importance in order to identify and understand improved treatment. In particular, we are currently interested in a number of key neurological disorders including alcohol dependency and alcoholism, neurodegeneration and early onset epileptic encephalopathies. In order to answer these questions experimentally, my lab utilises a multidisciplinary approach using all aspects of advanced genetics, cellular and molecular and biochemical approaches, quantifying effects on whole nervous system function using the genetic model organism Caenorhabditis elegans.

Current projects in the lab are focussed on:
1. Exploring how mutations in the neuronal protein WDR81 bypasses the explicit function of Stxbp1 in exocytosis
2. Role of small heat shock proteins in addiction, neurodegeneration and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
3. Identifying mechanisms and potential drug treatments in genetic epilepsies

Work in this lab is currently supported by the MRC