I completed my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at King’s College London in 2008, which included an extramural year working at GlaxoSmithKline (Harlow, Essex). I completed my PhD in Cellular Neurophysiology in 2012 under the supervision of Dr Susan Jones and Dr Jeremy Skepper at the University of Cambridge. This involved looking at the expression and function of atypical NMDA receptors in dopaminergic neurones of the substantia nigra, the cells which die preferentially in Parkinson’s disease. This was funded by the BBSRC

This is my first post-doc, and I am working under the supervision of Professor Arthur Butt. My current project involves studying K+ channels in the supporting cells of the brain (glia). The main channel I am working on is Kir4.1 (a glial-specific inwardly rectifying K+ channel), and this project aims to dissect the effect of knocking out this protein in different glial cells using an inducible cre/lox system. The project involves a range of experimental techniques, including molecular biology (qPCR, western blot, immunohistochemistry) and electrophysiology (patch-clamping, compound-action potential recordings).