Cellular and systems physiology has a strong presence across our department. It consists of researchers primarily interested in either cell functioning or the way in which groups of cells co-ordinate their activities. Naturally this theme has some overlap with both neuroscience and developmental biology, but the researchers listed here work on fundamental aspects of physiology that have a broader relevance than simply to either Neuroscience or Development alone. This theme can be broadly divided into three main research areas:
Calcium handling in cells
This grouping builds upon the MRC calcium co-operative held by the department, and its core interest is in intracellular signalling mechanisms. It has a particularly strong representation from those working on blood-related cells (Virgilio Lew, Michael Mason, Stewart Sage and Teresa Tiffert) and those working on calcium handling within excitable cells (Chris Huang, Christof Schwiening and Roger Thomas).
Excitable and sensory cellular physiology
We have another group (Roger Carpenter, Andrew Crawford, Hugh Matthews, Steve Edgely, Roger Hardie, Susan Jones, Christof Schwiening, Hugh Robinson, Roger Thomas, and Ian Winter) working on excitable and sensory physiology at the cellular level. Many of them could be classified as traditional electrophysiologists, since they investigate membrane-based mechanisms that give rise to fundamental forms of signal processing.
Circulatory physiology
Moving upwards from the cellular physiologists to those with a more systems based focus, we have a grouping based on circulatory physiology (Dino Guissani, Abby Fowden, Alison Forehead, Richard Barnes and Graham Burton). This grouping also has strong links to the Developmental Biology theme. Richard Dyball works on osmoreception and on circadian function.
