Profile

I am interested in how synapses (connections between brain cells) work and how they get stronger with learning (at least that is the theory! but there is still a lot we don’t know about how the brain stores memories).
Also, I aim to understand why synapses can’t get stronger when exposed to amyloid beta, a molecule which accumulates in the brain of Alzheimer’s disease patients.
I have used  brain tissue from rats and mice to study how their synapses work, using a technique called electrophysiology. and I will soon be learning new techniques in animal behaviour that will help me measure how well a mouse can learn and what are the synaptic mechanisms involved in learning (all procedures I have ever used are approved by the Home Office Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
This is the website of the laboratory where I currently work:
http://noggin.dpag.ox.ac.uk/
 

– Experimental days: On these, I first get my cells ready to be recorded, then I get to look at them with the microscope and finally to actually see their activity (this is the most exciting bit of the day!).
– Analysis/writing days: I get to sit at my computer and look at my data, and do some statistics to start putting it all together. Then I make decisions about future experiments or perhaps decide when I’m ready to write my results for publication (this is a very exciting part!). 

Also we have weekly meetings with the lab group where discuss the  latest scientific papers from other laboratories around the world and to hear what the labmates have been up to in their own research.