Abstract

Friday 14 February 16:00

Professor David Hughes

School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of Glasgow

Developing More Effective Pharmacological Treatments for Chronic Pain

Biography

David is Professor of Neuroanatomy at the University of Glasgow, and one of six group leaders within the School of Psychology and Neuroscience’s Spinal Cord Group. He gained his BSc (Honours) in Anatomy at the University of Liverpool, and completed his PhD at the University of Wales, Cardiff, with his thesis on “Anatomical Evidence for Animo Acid Modulation of Cutaneous Sensory Afferents”. He then worked as a post-doctoral research assistant at University College London (Royal Free Hospital Campus) studying neuronal connectivity in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, before joining the University of Glasgow’s Spinal Cord Group in 2000. David was appointed as a Lecturer of Anatomy in 2009, Senior Lecturer in 2014, and Professor in 2024.

The Hughes Laboratory use a combination of anatomical and electrophysiological approaches in both human and rodent tissue to identify individual neuronal populations and determine how their activity influences our ability to perceive different sensations. Our multidisciplinary studies to dissect and define modality-specific spinal cord circuits employ the use of viral vector labelling in transgenic mice, chemogenetics, optogenetics, behavioural assessments, confocal microscopy, and electron microscopy.